Wartorn
by Leebot
Summary: The 501st is disbanded once more, and the witches are scattered across the world. But even in the middle of war, love will find a way to bring people together. Various couples, including Mio/Minna and Sanya/Eila.
1. Scattered to the Winds

**Author's Note:** First things first: A Strike Witches movie has been greenlighted (Thanks to LW for sharing the story with us English-speaking fans!). Check my profile for a link to a news story about it, along with a link to a very sweet and sexy Mio/Minna doujin that my friend Shezaei Neko uploaded for me.

This story follows up on my previous SW fic, _Something to Live For_, although reading that isn't really necessary for this one. It is recommended though, particularly chapter 2. In any case, I made sure to write this so it won't be too hard to catch up with what's already happened.

**Edits:** Added location tags for all scenes, misc. wording.

X-X-X

**Title:** Wartorn

**Chapter Rating:** T

**Chapter 1:** Scattered in the Wind

X-X-X

**501st JFW Southern Romagnan Base**

**Airstrip**

"Sakamoto-san?" Yoshika said, looking up at her superior officer in mild surprise. "Aren't you coming as well?" She'd already packed her belongings and loaded them onto the flying boat, and they'd been waiting for Sakamoto to arrive before they would be clear to take off.

However, Sakamoto had walked out onto the airstrip without any of her belongings. She was a spartan packer, certainly, but she should have at least had something. Sakamoto gave Yoshika a smile, but Yoshika didn't even try to identify the meaning behind it. Coming from Sakamoto, the same smile could mean either "Time for a nice, relaxing bath," or "Time for a long, grueling training session." Yoshika had long since given up trying to figure it all out.

"I'm not leaving for Fuso quite yet," Sakamoto said. "Minna received a telegram along with the reassignment orders yesterday. It turns out there might be something more I can do here in Europe... or possibly Liberion. I'm still trying to find out all the details." A smile that Yoshika could swear was full of pride slowly grew on Sakamoto's face, and she stepped forward and placed a hand on Yoshika's shoulder. "Thank you, Miyafuji. I'm lucky to have people around who will ignore my orders when I'm being an idiot."

"Sakamoto-san..." Yoshika said. After a moment, a smile crossed her face. "You're welcome. Let me know when you're back in Fuso, and you can come over for dinner."

Sakamoto let out a laugh. "I will." She stepped back from Yoshika and smiled at her again. "One last thing, Miyafuji... If you once again manage to defy everyone's expectations and regain your magic, let me know. I promise I won't make any decisions for you again, but I want you to know all your options."

Yoshika shook her head. "It's alright," she said. "I don't regret my decision, and I'll be happy even if my magic never comes back."

Sakamoto nodded. "Good." After a moment, she held her hand up in a salute. "Sergeant Miyafuji Yoshika, dismissed!"

Yoshika hastily stood at attention and returned the salute. She'd already been officially discharged, but she no problem humoring Sakamoto. "Yes ma'am!"

X-X-X

_**RMS Raimondo Montecuccoli**_

**En route to Toulon, Gallia**

**Private Cabin 2-C**

"Um, Lynne...?" Perrine said. She turned her head to the side to try to hide the blush that was rising to her cheeks. She really had to figure out how to get that under control one of these days. "Do you think there's any chance you'd be able to spend a day or two of your leave in Gallia?"

"Huh?" Lynne turned around from the porthole, looking at Perrine in confusion.

"I mean, you don't have to help with the reconstruction or anything," Perrine said, trying not to make Lynne feel pressured. "I just thought that... well... things are coming along pretty well in some parts of the country, and you might like to see it. They finished the repairs to L'Arc de Triomphe not too long ago, and it'd be nice to show you at least one of our monuments as it was meant to be seen."

"Perrine..." Lynne said. Perrine nervously turned back to look at her, and she was relieved to notice a smile tugging at her friend's lips. "Where did you think I was going to spend my leave?"

Perrine blinked. "Didn't you say you were going back to Brittania?"

"That was at the end of my leave," Lynne said, letting the smile break out onto her face, and causing Perrine's cheeks to heat up once more. "The RAF doesn't care whether I take my leave in the middle of travelling back to base or afterwards. I can just report to the Brittanian base in Normandy a week after we dock in Gallia, and they can ship me back to Brittania." Lynne paused for a second. "Come to think of it, I might be able to squeeze in an extra day if we do our own traveling. The drive across Gallia would have taken that long anyways..."

Perrine tried to contain her excitement at hearing this, though she was pretty sure that she failed miserably at that task. "That's great! Are you sure your family won't mind?"

Lynne shrugged. "I can always find some time to visit them after I get to Brittania. It's a big family, so they won't miss me too much." Her brow furrowed after a moment, and she looked over at their cabin's door. "Maybe I should go ask Sanya and Eila if they want to join us. I think they have to go through Normandy as well, so they might be able to get the same deal..."

"Um! Er..." Perrine stared at the door, a wave of panic hitting her. Making that suggestion to Eila sounded like a good way to shorten her lifespan. "Um well... I think they might want to spend some more time searching for Sanya's family," she said, deciding not to voice her actual fears. She wasn't sure if that would completely dissuade Lynne from asking, though. She turned back to her friend and said, "But if you do want to ask... just make sure you ask Sanya."

X-X-X

_**RMS Raimondo Montecuccoli**_

**En route to Toulon, Gallia**

**Private Cabin 2-E**

Sanya let out a gentle sneeze in her sleep. Eila grinned at the cute sight and stroked her fingers through Sanya's hair. It hadn't taken Sanya long before the boredom of the boat ride had caused her to fall asleep. Eila would have preferred to sleep at the same time as Sanya, but she was still on too much of a diurnal schedule to get any sleep right now. Sanya had gotten quite good at switching schedules as needed, so Eila wasn't too worried that Sanya would get stuck in a nocturnal schedule on their ride to Gallia.

Of course, Eila was content to let Sanya sleep for now. There was no way she could have possibly refused Sanya when she placed her pillow on Eila's lap and laid her head on it. Eila might have been stuck on a ship without much to do, traveling away from some of her friends and about to split with the rest when they landed in Gallia, but as long as she had Sanya with her, life was perfect.

"I love you, Sanya," Eila whispered, hoping the message would filter in to Sanya's mind as she dreamed.

Sanya shuffled in her sleep. "Eila..." Eila tensed up at the sound of her name. Her tension was somewhat relieved when Sanya rolled over to face her, keeping her eyes closed all the while. And then Sanya spoke, and Eila's panic came right back. "Why do you always try to embarrass me like that?"

Eila turned her head upwards, hoping that Sanya wouldn't be able to get a good look at the panicked blush that crossed her cheeks. "Er... I... well... I mean... there isn't anyone else here... so I couldn't be trying to embarrass you, right?" It took Eila's mind a few more seconds to catch up with what she'd said, and the blush on her cheeks just got worse with the realization.

"Oh..." Sanya said. Eila was still trying not to look at Sanya, so she couldn't tell if Sanya had opened her eyes to look up at her. She desperately hoped that Sanya was still half-asleep, but she couldn't risk looking down to make sure. "Love you too, Eila..." Sanya said at last, her voice barely above a whisper.

Eila blinked. Had Sanya really just said that? She must have misheard. Or maybe Sanya had thought Eila just meant a friendly kind of love. She really should have just pretended she was just being silly. Sanya had assumed that before, hadn't she? Wait... she could still do that! She didn't have to be trying to embarrass Sanya; she was just joking around. Wait, no. What was she thinking? She was already past that point. Sanya wasn't joking around, but what had she meant?

"Er, by 'love'... you mean...?" Eila said, trying to wrap her head around the situation.

"Silly Eila..." Sanya said. She shifted a bit so she could wrap her arms around Eila's body, and she let out a contended sigh.

Eila sighed as well, giving up for the moment. Why did she always have to make things so complicated? She turned her head back down, and she resumed stroking her fingers through Sanya's hair. Maybe Sanya was right, and she was just being silly...

X-X-X

_**RMS Raimondo Montecuccoli**_

**En route to Toulon, Gallia**

**Hallway, deck 2**

Trude decided that a tactical retreat was the best option. Her attempts to get Erica to slow down the expansion of junk in their cabin had failed, even when she tried to establish a border for her side of the room. The cabin was much smaller than their room back in their base, so it only took Erica a couple of hours to fill up the entire floorspace with her spare clothes and books. Trude would have to find some alternative arrangement, or else prepare to fight a battle back towards her bed once evening came.

Trude looked up and down the corridor, spotting a crewman at the end of the hall. "Oi!" she said, running over to him. "Are there any other free beds left on the ship? My cabin's turned into a disaster zone."

"Sorry ma'am," the crewman said, turning to Trude. "All of the cabins are occupied. I can inform maintenance about the problem in your cabin, though. They might be able to get it fixed up by tonight if it's nothing serious."

"Oh, no, it's not that," Trude said. She let out a sigh. "Just my roommate making the cabin uninhabitable. But I don't need a cabin; I'll bunk with the enlisted soldiers if I have to."

"Ah... I see," the crewman replied, though his expression told Trude that he didn't really comprehend just what she was dealing with. He scratched the back of his neck as he said, "Thing is, we're dealing with an all-male crew here... if you're that desperate for a bed, sickbay might be your best bet."

"Haa... alright, thanks," Trude said, giving the man a nod. She turned back toward her cabin, trying to figure out an alternate plan of action. Perhaps she could convince one of her squadmates to lend her a bed, or even just let her sleep on the floor of their cabin. Asking Eila and Sanya was off the table, though. While Eila might appreciate an excuse to sleep in the same bed as Sanya, she certainly wouldn't like having their privacy invaded.

Perrine and Lynne it was, then. Trude gave one last defeated look at the door to her former cabin, shaking her head. Even after making maintenance work overnight to get all of Erica's belongings packed up, she still hadn't learned a thing. Trude turned towards Perrine and Lynne's door, and she was just about to knock when the sound of a crash came from behind her.

"Trudie...!" Came a pleading voice from behind Trude. She turned around to see that Erica had tripped on her way out the door from their room. "It's boring in there without you," Erica said as she pushed herself back to her feet.

"Ugh, how can it be boring? You've got so many books that there's no room left for me in the cabin!" Trude said, trying to contain the throbbing in her forehead.

"I was just joking... I didn't think you'd run out over it." Erica said, looking up at Trude with big, wet eyes. The effect was ruined, though, when she let out a sneeze. "Boy, it's breezy in this hall..."

Trude blinked. Fearing the worst, she looked down. Her fears confirmed, she immediately squeezed her eyes closed. "Damn it, Hartmann! Put some pants on!"

"Huh? Oh, right..." Erica said, turning around to go back into their room. "I'm sure I saw them somewhere in- Ahh!" Erica let out a yelp as she tripped over the same pile of books that had tripped her on her way out of the room. Trying her best not to look, Trude managed to squeeze her way into the room and pull Erica past the door. She had to defend Karlsland's dignity, if nothing else.

"I swear, Hartmann, you're hope... less..." Trude said, trailing off as she saw that a path of floor had been cleared, allowing access to her bed, and that the books Erica had thrown onto it were removed now. This had been accomplished by piling the mess higher in the rest of the room, but even so... "Haa... okay, maybe not entirely hopeless..."

X-X-X

**Rome, Romagna**

**Near the palace of Duchess Maria of Romagna**

"Oh no, you don't!" Shirley said, grabbing the back of Lucchini's collar just as the girl attempted to slip away. "Not after all the time we spent driving here."

"Wha-? Oh come on!" Lucchini protested as she reluctantly turned around to face Shirley. "It can't be the same Maria. If it was her, she'd have contacted me on her own by now! And if she hasn't, then she just doesn't want to see me."

Shirley rolled her eyes. "Right. That's why she personally thanked you over the radio, airdropped in a load of supplies for us, and arranged for you to get a full month of leave. No way it's the same person." Not letting go of Lucchini's collar, Shirley turned around and began to drag the girl toward the palace. "Now come on! We might not be able to get in today, but we can get you an appointment to see her, at least."

"'Appointment'..." Lucchini said, letting out a growl. "You can't let me make this fun at all, can you? Wouldn't it be much better for me to sneak past the gate, then knock on the window to her bedroom?"

"Oh, so now it is her, is it?" Shirley said with a smirk. "But nope. I came this far, I at least get to see how you managed to impress her." That, and listening to Lucchini's rapidly-changing excuses was becoming more amusing the longer it went on. But if Shirley mentioned that reason, she'd spoil all the fun.

"Well if it is her, then the guards probably don't even want to see me again... I kicked their asses good when Maria was trying to escape from them. And I can walk on my own, thank you!" Lucchini grabbed Shirley's hand off of her collar, and she walked on her own right up until the moment where she passed the gatehouse to the palace. With an amused sigh, Shirley grabbed Lucchini's collar once more and pulled her into the guardhouse.

"Hi there," Shirley said, smiling at the guard inside. She pulled Lucchini in front of her and placed a hand on each of the girl's shoulders, making sure she couldn't slip away. "My friend here is an acquaintance of Duchess Maria, and we were wondering if it would be possible for her to get an appointment to catch up with the Duchess."

The guard looked back at Shirley, raising an eyebrow in mild amusement. "Heard it before. If the kids of this city are to be believed, the Duchess has roughly 500 personal friends."

Lucchini strained a bit to get away, but Shirley tightened her grasp. "Well, have you heard the one where this is Francesca Lucchini, the witch who saved Romagna from the Neuroi?"

The guard's other eyebrow rose, joining the first one. "Yes. Apparently there are no fewer than 7 Francesca Lucchinis in this city alone. One of them was even able to call out a familiar as 'proof.' It was just her bad luck that she'd bonded with a dog instead of a cat, or I might have believed her."

"What!" Lucchini said. "My familiar's a panther, not a cat! What the hell do you know? And how the hell do you not know what the amazing Francesca Lucchini looks like?" Shirley bit her tongue to keep from laughing. This was why she'd come, so she decided to just enjoy the show.

The guard's eyebrows finally came back down. "Hmm. You do fit the descriptions I've heard... though that still isn't saying much. Alright, let's see the panther."

Lucchini chuckled triumphantly as she stepped away from Shirley. She'd apparently forgotten that just a minute ago she'd been trying to find any excuse possible to not go and see Maria today. Most likely she just didn't like Shirley forcing her to do it. But now that someone was standing in her way of doing it, she'd reversed course and was doing everything in her power to get inside. Of course, this meant that Shirley didn't mind letting go of Lucchini while she showed off her familiar to the guard.

"Alright, now if this doesn't convince you," Lucchini said, "next on the plate is to show you Francesca Lucchini's trademark magical attack, to be named as soon as I can think of something cool enough!" Shirley cautiously stepped to the side as Lucchini generated a couple of sparks in the air to show she meant business. It probably wasn't the best idea to threaten one of the Duchess' guards. Shirley might need to make a quick escape if things went sour, so she'd be able to bail Lucchini out later.

His eyes widened once more, the guard grabbed a pencil and marked something down on the paper in front of him. "Wednesday at 11 am., lunch with the Duchess. I'll uh... make sure the guard on duty knows who you are."

X-X-X

**501st JFW Southern Romagnan Base**

**Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilke's office**

"I don't believe I've ever heard you hum over paperwork before," Mio said, giving Minna an amused smile as she dropped down to a seat in Minna's office. She allowed herself a few deep breaths and a chance to wipe the sweat off of her forehead before she continued, "Did the paperwork suddenly get that much more enjoyable?"

Minna froze for a long minute, as a blush steadily filled her cheeks. "I was sure I'd stopped the moment I heard your footsteps inside the base..." she said.

"Not quite soon enough, apparently," Mio said. She thumbed through Minna's outbox and picked up a few papers, using them to help fan herself off. She was surprising herself with how much energy she had today, though all that any energy didn't stop her body from heating up just as quickly, and she was paying the price for that now.

Minna finally let out a sigh, allowing her lips to form a smile as she looked over at Mio. "I know I probably should be frustrated that I still have work to do... as well as being disappointed at seeing almost everyone else leave today." Minna's smile did shrink a bit as she said this, though it quickly came back in full as she locked her gaze with Mio's. "It's your fault, you know. I've been giddy almost constantly since I woke up this morning with you still wrapped around me."

Mio smirked at this. "Perhaps I am to blame... But perhaps I can make it up to you." She placed the papers she'd been using as a fan back into Minna's outbox, and she started thumbing through her commander's inbox. She was relieved to see that it was almost empty, with just a couple of papers left. "Is there anything here I'd be able to fill out for you?"

Minna seemed to hesitate for a moment, though Mio made sure that her expression gave the message that she wasn't going to take "No" for an answer. Shaking her head and muttering something about "Fuso witches," Minna took one of the forms out of the tray and passed it to Mio. "Here. It's the salvage report for our last mission. I would have had to ask you what happened to your Violet Lightning anyway, along with whether it would be safe for anyone else to handle Reppumaru if they find it."

"Ah, perfect," Mio said. She grabbed a pen from Minna's desk and went to work at filling out the form. "I don't think Reppumaru is too much of a threat to any non-witch," she said as she filled out a section for it. There wasn't any obvious place for her to put warnings about it, though. "But they should probably be careful, just in case..."

"You can just mention that in the 'damage report' section," Minna said, looking up from the form she'd been working on for a moment. "I often put notes there when equipment might be dangerous to handle. They'll know what to do."

"Got it," Mio said. The rest of the form was straightforward, and she was able to do everything short of sign it for Minna. Minna still had another form to finish up after Mio was done, so she took the opportunity to browse through a newspaper she found on Minna's desk while she waited.

Interestingly, it wasn't the Romagnan Times that Mio had picked up, though a quick glance confirmed that that was also on Minna's desk. She didn't recognize the title, though it sounded either Liberion or Brittannian. However, a brief glance at the front page was all it took for Mio to figure out why this paper was of interest to Minna.

_**Cochran Determined to Break Mach 1**_

_Inspired by Charlotte Yeager's record-setting supersonic flight last year, Wing Commander Jessie Cochran has laid plans to repeat the feat with a production Striker. If she succeeds, this will mainstream supersonic flight and give witches a new edge against the Neuroi. Cochran claims that the proposed specs for the Liberion F-86 Sabre will be just powerful enough to break Mach 1 in a dive, which she hopes can then be maintained in level flight._

_The F-86 is to be the first production Liberion Jet Striker, whose production was enabled through Vice-Air Marshall Adolfine Galland's agreement last June to share research and testing data on Jet Strikers with other Allied nations. Galland had long been an opponent of sharing Karlsland's research, and her recent reversal has caused numerous speculations about her motives. The first production Karlsland Jet Striker, the Me 262, is expected to be operational within the next few months, while the F-86 will not be finished until near the end of the year._

_Cochran's plans have been critiqued by engineers such as Brittania's Wilfred Boyd, who claims that the F-86's proposed specs are likely an overestimate of its capabilities. Boyd is working on an upgraded engine for the CL-13 Sabre, the Brittannian equivalent of the F-86, which he says might..._

"That's my 'Get Shirley far away from trouble' plan," Minna said, nearly causing Mio to jump in her chair.

Mio quickly tried to cover her shock from the fact that she'd just been jolted out of her reading, though she suspected that she wasn't entirely successful. Ever since working with Dr. Miyafuji on developing the Striker Unit, Mio had tried to keep up with the development of newer models. Her duties on the front lines and the rapidly-expanding development of Strikers had soon made her lose touch with most of the news on that front, although apparently her interest was still strong enough that she could lose herself in the news, even with Minna sitting just across from her. That wasn't like her at all. She was letting her guard down.

Minna let out a gentle chuckle, which let Mio knew that she hadn't entirely succeeded at hiding her shock. "Until her orders come in, I'm going to have to keep a close eye on Shirley to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble," Minna said, thankfully not pressing the issue of Mio's moment of weakness. "If any problems do come up, my plan is to wave that newspaper under her nose. Knowing Shirley, she'll be off to Liberion to help with the flight testing before she's halfway through the article."

Mio let out a hearty laugh. "You really know your wing too well. It's too bad they wouldn't let us - or at least the rest of you - stay together after the Super Hive was destroyed. I really don't understand bureaucrats sometimes." Mio let out a sigh, though she caught something in Minna's expression that put her off. "What is it, Minna?"

"Just something in the paperwork that was bugging me a little," Minna said. "I'm sure there's a good reason for it all, so I was trying not to let it bother it me too much, but now that you bring it up..." Minna sifted through the papers in her outbox, pulling out one of the forms and showing it to Mio. "It turns out that there were actually requests from both the governments of both Romagna and Karlsland to keep us active in the area if we succeeded in destroying the hive. It was actually Air Vice-Marshal Galland who decided that we were to be disbanded even in the case of victory."

This got Mio's attention. She read the orders herself to confirm it. "That is odd. She wants to take Karlsland back as much as anyone I've met... Why would she want to remove one of her best wings from the front?"

"I don't know," Minna said, shaking her head slowly as she took the orders back from Mio. "But I do trust that she has her reasons."

Mio watched Minna's expression carefully. She was making an effort to pay more attention to that kind of thing now, so she couldn't ignore the fact that this seemed to be bothering Minna. Perhaps Minna had wished she could keep the wing together more than she was letting on. "You can't just leave it at that, can you?"

Minna looked up, her eyes betraying her surprise that Mio had been able to read her thoughts. "No. But maybe I should." Minna's eyes fell back to the orders on her desk. After a long moment, she said, "On the other hand, Galland will be visiting Venezia next week to help organize forces along Karlsland's southern border..." Minna looked up, a smile crossing her lips. "What do you think, Mio? Doesn't Venezia sound like the perfect place for us to take a vacation?"

X-X-X

**Author's Note:** Thank you for reading, and I hope you can take the time to leave a review to let me know what did or didn't like here. Most chapters after this will be a bit more focused on a smaller number of characters, but I wanted to give everyone a moment of their own in this chapter.

As with my previous fic, I'll be keeping track of what elements have a basis in canon at the end of each chapter. The SW universe is quite large, so it can be hard to know at times what I've come up with on my own and what is canon. Note though, that my storyline diverges from anything after the end of season 2. At the moment I write this, I believe that's just the Starlight Stream radio skits 39+.

There are quite a few historical references as well, but I'll leave the identification of those to you. Perhaps I'll compile a list later, but for now I think it's more fun to leave it all up to you readers to figure them out on your own.

**Canonicity Notes:**

Military regulations: No canon basis for any of what Lynne discusses. The worries about having a witch bunk with enlisted men, however, are representative of worries throughout the military that soldiers might act inappropriately toward witches. This is one of the reasons that witches are relatively high-ranked.

Lucchini's familiar: It's a black panther, to be specific, according to the drama CDs.

Strikers in development: Aside from the Me 262, there's no canon basis for the Striker models mentioned here.

Adolfine Galland: Canon character, who was mentioned very briefly in the anime and appeared in the chapter 2 of the second season's light novel. More of her past was expanded upon in the first Himeroku drama CD, though none of the actions mentioned here are canon.


	2. Bandit in the Baltic

**Author's Note:** Welcome back! Sorry for the delay in this chapter, but I wanted to get out a bonus chapter for my previous fic first. In any case, the plot is slowly picking up for this fic, which also means some action for this chapter. For anyone who isn't familiar with air combat lingo, I've included a few notes below so you don't get lost.

Hope you all enjoy!

**Terminology:**

Bandit - An enemy aircraft. ("Bogey," which is more commonly heard in media, properly refers to an unidentified aircraft.)

Stall speed - The minimum speed an aircraft can travel before it will lose lift and be forced to descend.

Boom and zoom tactics - Dogfighting tactics that rely on maintaining an energy (a combination of speed and altitude) advantage over the opponent, allowing you to swoop in for brief attacks and get out unharmed. In the Strike Witches universe, this has become the default set of tactics for handling Neuroi in the later years of the war.

X-X-X

**Title:** Wartorn

**Chapter Rating:** T

**Chapter 2:** Bandit in the Baltic

X-X-X

**507th JFW Kauhava base, Suomus**

**Hangar**

**One week prior**

"Tomoko... please," Haruka said as Tomoko climbed into her Striker Unit. "I can handle them myself. You don't need to risk yourself like this."

Tomoko jumped into her Striker, her familiar's ears and tail growing out of her body as she filled with magic. She closed her eyes and spent a moment feeling out the flow of magic through her body. Her shields were still pretty weak, but everything else felt as good as ever. She opened her eyes and turned back to Haruka. "If you don't get into your Striker soon, I'm going to end up being the one to handle them myself. We're both going, and that's final. If these are humanoids again, you won't stand a chance by yourself."

Haruka let out a sigh, but she relented and headed for her own Striker. Tomoko had tried to exercise some restraint and avoid combat whenever possible since her shields had started to weaken, but there was just no way around it this time. Two large-type Neuroi had been spotted heading towards Suomus from Karlsland, and she'd dispatched almost all of the 507th to deal with them. It would be a tough fight for them, and she'd wished that she and Haruka could have gone as well, but today was a good reminder of the reason she always had to keep at least a pair of witches in reserve.

According to Lehtovaara's report, a pair of medium-type Neuroi had disguised themselves as drones of one of the large-types and managed to sneak past the witches. Tomoko wasn't clear on exactly what model they were - all she knew was that they'd apparently charged themselves with what appeared to be green lightning before they'd sped out of sight of the squadron - so she had to be prepared for the worst. She didn't expect them to run into humanoids again after all this time, but she had to be prepared for that possibility, particularly after hearing the reports of a new model of humanoid seen over the Brittanian Channel a year ago, and more recently in Venezia. There was no way she could send Haruka in alone when there was that risk present. She'd called for backup from the 502nd, but they wouldn't be able to intercept before the Neuroi reached Kauhava. There was just no choice but to go into battle herself, as much risk as she might be putting herself in.

Tomoko eyed her choices of weapons while she waited for the hangar doors to be opened. The type 99 light machine gun would be fine for most medium-types, and its 7.7 mm ammo was a fair bit cheaper than the 12.7 mm ammo for the modified type 99-1 she used when fighting large-types. There was a chance she'd end up facing some bizarre medium-type that was particularly well-armored, but she'd still have her katana in that case. Better to stick with the type 99, which wouldn't weigh her down as much. She'd need all the maneuverability she could get if she couldn't rely on her shield.

Almost as soon as Tomoko had equipped her gun, the hangar doors were opened, and the maintenance crew signaled Tomoko and Haruka that they were clear for takeoff. Tomoko kicked her Striker up to maximum thrust, and she made an effort to make the takeoff look as smooth as possible. She didn't feel like her Striker's output was suffering at all yet, but she didn't want Haruka to worry about her. Worry too much, that was. "Haruka," Tomoko said, engaging her radio, "do what you can to cover me. I can't trust my own shield to hold up long."

"Yes, ma'am!"

For a few minutes, Tomoko allowed herself to simply enjoy the sensation of flying. She'd been able to get out less and less since she'd turned 20, and so she valued her opportunities more and more. It was just too bad that it had to be so stressful this time. She could only hope that the Neuroi they were about to face were just a couple of normal medium-types, or even just slightly abnormal ones. That would be easy enough to handle, but she didn't count it likely. The report of green lightning was what really worried her. Until now, that had only been seen with the Super Hive over Venezia, and not with any lesser Neuroi. If it meant that they'd been empowered somehow, she and Haruka could be in for quite the fight.

The Neuroi came into view only a few minutes after Tomoko and Haruka had flown out over the Baltic Sea. "Bandits at 1 o'clock," Tomoko said. "I'll try to take out the left first. Keep the other off of me."

"Got it," Haruka confirmed, and Tomoko took a chance to gain what altitude she could before they engaged the Neuroi. When she had a good advantage on them, she leveled off and prepared for her first pass. The Neuroi didn't appear to be travelling much faster than her. If these were normal medium-types, then she and Haruka had already won the battle. Even without her shield, there was no way she'd lose in a dogfight. She would have to play it careful and by-the-book, which meant it wouldn't be as fun, but fun wasn't a reason to needlessly put her life on the line.

Before she could even make out the type of Neuroi she was facing, Tomoko dived down to their level and headed straight in for the left Neuroi. She leveled her gun, adjusting her sight but not her trajectory as the Neuroi moved, and she unleashed a round the moment she could make out the Neuroi's shape - a Huckebein, a common medium-type, even if this one was green. Perfect. The Huckebein was of the fastest known Neuroi designs, though it suffered from stability problems at high speed and would have to slow down a lot for combat. They could be hard to intercept, but once they were engaged, they were easy prey.

Right now, the Huckebein was still going too fast for Tomoko to hit it, so she didn't even bother trying to aim properly. Deflection shooting would come later. For now, she just needed to force it to turn and waste its energy. The Neuroi broke off just as Tomoko fired, avoiding her shots at the expense of its own speed. She followed it with her gun as long as she could and then pulled up as soon as she passed its former position. When she reached her initial altitude, she curved off to the side, making her turn as wide as she dared. She took a moment to assess the situation as she flew back towards the Neuroi. She couldn't spot Haruka or the other Neuroi at the moment, but she trusted that Haruka would say something if she were having any trouble. She'd probably be fine, though; this was easy. Tomoko hadn't faced Neuroi this pathetic in years... but as she thought about it, it started to set off alarm bells in her mind.

Nevertheless, she couldn't form a better plan for handling these Neuroi until she knew what their game was. The Huckebein was particularly vulnerable to boom and zoom tactics once it had been slowed down from its top speed, so Tomoko planned to exploit this weakness for all it was worth. Before the Neuroi she was facing could get a pin on her, Tomoko dove again. One more pass should be all it would take to press its belly into the sea. As long as she didn't sacrifice too much energy in getting it there, she would be ready for whatever surprise it might have waiting for her. The Neuroi showed a modicum of intelligence in making a turn of its own to face Tomoko as she came in, rather than breaking off again or fleeing, but everything else worked against it. Tomoko fired at it until she saw the telltale red glow of its weapon charging, and she rolled quickly to the side to dodge the beam. She emptied the rest of her clip into the Neuroi as she passed it, knocking off a piece of its tail and forcing it to turn again to avoid a hit to its body.

That should be enough. After its last-second turn and at this low speed, the Huckebein wouldn't be able to loop around to get on Tomoko's tail without stalling. Tomoko went into a sharp climb and prepared to dive down at it and strike a fatal blow. She ejected and replaced her gun's cartridge at the top of climb, and then she rolled backwards and dove in for the kill. She was all too ready for something to go wrong, and so she didn't waste a moment thinking about it when Haruka's voice came over the radio: "Dodge left!"

Tomoko rolled left, not letting her prey out of her sight, easily dodging a quartet of energy beams that passed by her right side. The Neuroi might have been ganging up on her now - as atypical of them as it was - but she wasn't going to give up this kill that easily. She readied her gun and tried to get a bead on the Neuroi, but she lost sight of it when it came to an abrupt halt in mid-air. Tomoko quickly pulled up, intending to loop around and find it again, but a quick glimpse of the other Neuroi gave her pause.

The second Neuroi had fired at her with four beams, while the Huckebein model was only equipped with a single beam. They'd both appeared to be the same type when she engaged them, but the second one appeared to have turned into Haunebu now, a bizarre model that looked like a flying saucer. "What happened to that one, Haruka?"

"I think these ones can change shape to some extent," Haruka said. "When I got it down to the sea, it folded in its wings and shot straight up. I tried to use my shield to get in close, but it broke off and headed for you instead."

Tomoko tried not to be too surprised over how quickly Haruka had handled her own target. Haruka had been in combat for over a year since Tomoko had retired from active duty, and the use of her shield allowed her to be more reckless than Tomoko, but it still was impressive. She could congratulate Haruka later, though. For now, she needed to worry about what these Neuroi were up to. When the first Neuroi came back into her view, she could see that it too had morphed into a Haunebu shape. It was sacrificing speed for maneuverability. The Haunebu were the polar opposite of the Huckebein; slow as hell, but they could turn on a dime. They were possibly the most dangerous model to a witch who couldn't use her shield. "Haruka, come low. Cover me with your shield so I can get on its back!" Tomoko called out.

"Aye!" Haruka said. Tomoko set a shallow path towards the water, giving Haruka a chance to meet up with her. She fell in beside Haruka as they set a course towards the first Neuroi, which appeared to have just finished adjusting its shape, dropping a bit lower so Haruka could cover her from any attacks from the second Neuroi as well. It would need some time to recharge if it were like a normal Haunebu, but Tomoko wasn't going to risk being wrong in her assessment.

The first Neuroi quickly got a bead on them, but Haruka had no problem blocking its attack with her shield. Tomoko readied her gun and waited for the moment they passed it to fire. She couldn't risk stalling at this altitude, so she'd only get a small window to shoot it. The Neuroi was able to maintain its assault up until the moment when Haruka passed it, so Tomoko was forced to act quickly. Hoping that the Neuroi wasn't playing another trick on her and hiding its core off to the side, she aimed for its center and shot out a round of bullets.

Tomoko had to turn back to make sure she didn't fly into Haruka, but she heard the blessed sound of the Neuroi shattering behind her. She glanced around to try to spot the second Neuroi, ready to dodge its attacks. It had had more than long enough to recharge by now, so the attack could come at any time. She finally spotted it behind her, still up quite a bit higher. "We can play this one safely," she said. "Just wait for it to attack and take it out before it can recharge."

"Right," Haruka said. She pulled up to match the Neuroi's altitude. Tomoko pulled up as well, curving off to the side and reaching a higher altitude. She'd need to pick up some speed to be able to dodge it properly. "I can try to lure it to attack," Haruka said. "My shield is still doing fine."

Tomoko eyed the Neuroi as she neared her stall speed. It didn't seem to be moving at all, though something was going on with it. Its edge was glowing green, and the lightning that surrounded it looked like it would actually be quite dangerous now. "Hold up. Whatever it's doing, it's not attacking. Just get in close and fire, but be ready to shield."

Tomoko flew in beside Haruka, letting her take this kill. She aimed her gun at the Neuroi, ready to fire and force it into Haruka's sights, but the Neuroi flipped onto its side just as she was about to shoot. Ready for the worst, Tomoko summoned her shield and hoped it would hold.

It didn't. Tomoko's shield fizzled out the second the Neuroi emitted some sort of green, pulsing wave. Haruka dove in front of Tomoko and shielded her from most of it, but Tomoko was still left dazed from brief blast that hit her.

She wasn't hurt. In fact, once Haruka was in front of her, Tomoko didn't feel any lingering effects from it, and her Striker was functioning normally. It was what she'd felt during the attack that worried her. It felt like her body was being invaded, and she felt sick to her stomach just remembering how it felt.

"Tomoko! Are you alright?" Haruka asked as soon as the attack ended, turning back to Tomoko with a panicked expression.

"I'm fine," Tomoko said. She shook her head, trying to forget what had happened for the time being. "Just kill it." She aimed her gun at the Neuroi to assist in the kill, but it seemed to be transforming again. She didn't care. She opened fire on it, and she was soon joined by Haruka. Neither of them had any luck in hitting its core before their magazines ran out, though. The transformation process seemed to be deflecting most of their bullets away somehow. It looked quite violent, as if the Neuroi were trying to shake off its armor.

Tomoko was about to come to a stop in front of it to press the attack when she heard Haruka's voice in her ear. "This is different..." Haruka said. "Get back!" Tomoko obeyed on instinct, pulling off from the Neuroi. She looked back just in time to spot the Neuroi's armor exploding off of it. The green lightning that had surrounded the Neuroi fizzled out. What remained of the Neuroi was pure black, with a very definite shape.

The Neuroi had turned into a witch. And as soon as Tomoko had a chance to realize this, it fled.

X-X-X

**Toulon, Gallia**

**Arsenal de Toulon**

**Present day**

"I'm going to miss you two so much..." Lynne said as she gave Erica a tight hug. She eventually pulled back, revealing an amused smile on Erica's face. She turned to Trude and gave her a hug as well before she could try to get away with just a handshake. Lynne didn't push her luck, though, and she pulled back after just a few seconds. "Congratulations again on your promotion, Squadron Leader Barkhorn," she said, going into her formal mode for Trude's comfort and Erica's amusement. "I hope I'll have the opportunity to serve under you again someday."

Trude forced a smile through her blush. "Erm, thank you, Lynne... er, Flight Sergeant Bishop." She glanced around at the rest of the girls assembled for a moment and gave a slow nod. Perrine and Eila were currently debating the best way to spend a few days in Gallia, and Sanya was watching them in amusement. Trude turned back to Lynne and said softly, "If I'm right about the reason behind your short leave, I should congratulate you too. Minna sent a recommendation to the RAF to put you on the command track, and I hope this means that they listened."

"Command...?" Lynne blinked. "I'm... I'm really not ready for that."

"Not right now!" Erica said, rolling her eyes and smiling at Lynne. "I think the most you can expect for now is to get a commission, and maybe a promotion, however the RAF handles that type of thing to make sure they can use you as a commander before you retire."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can handle it," Trude said. She placed a hand on Lynne's shoulder in support. "Minna was just as inexperienced as you when she was your age, but she's one of the best commanders in the world now. You've got it in you, trust me. And if the war is still going on in three or four years, we're going to need you."

Lynne gave up at protesting and smiled back at Trude. "Alright, I'll give it my best. Thank you, Trude, Erica." Lynne bowed before the two of them.

Trude nodded at her. She and Erica had already said their goodbyes to Perrine, Sanya, and Eila, so there was no need to interrupt the current argument. "We should get going now. We can't make our ride to the airport wait forever. I hope to see you soon, Lynne."

"You too," Lynne said with a nod. Erica nodded at Lynne as she and Trude turned towards the car that the Karlsland Air Force had hired for them. Lynne waited until the car had driven off before she turned to Perrine and Eila. She was beginning to wonder whether inviting Eila and Sanya to spend some time in Gallia was going to be more trouble than it was worth, but fortunately, the argument finally seemed to have settled down. "So, do we have a plan?"

Perrine turned to Lynne and nodded. Surprisingly enough, there was a smile on her face now. "I think Eila and I are finally on the same page. We're going to Paris today, and we can all spend some time together tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow night we can- Yeow!" A sharp blow to her side from Eila's elbow cut off Perrine's sentence. Perrine glared at her, but Eila ignored it.

"Tomorrow night's a surprise for you and Sanya," Eila said. Both nervousness and excitement were easily visible on Eila's face. Lynne might not be able to figure out much from that, but at least she could be sure it would be something interesting.

For her part, Sanya just seemed amused by this. "Eila's always doing silly things like this," she said. "I'm sure it will be quite sweet, so don't worry, Lynne." She must have missed out on what Eila and Perrine's final plans were, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed rather flattered by it all.

_Sweet?_ Lynne glanced over at Perrine, trying to puzzle out her friend's intentions. The fact that Perrine suddenly blushed and turned to the side only ended up confusing Lynne more. Though in the end, the blush was cute enough that Lynne decided she could live with a little confusion for the time being.

X-X-X

**Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, Venezia**

**Checkpoint**

"The purpose of your visit to Trieste?"

"Personal," Minna said. "We're here to vacation." She handed her and Mio's passports to the guard and gave him her best smile. It was the same smile that convinced a dealer in Rome that she was trustworthy enough to rent a car to, and that she could be counted on to return it to him. After trying for a year to get Trevor Maloney to trust her, Minna had gotten in a lot of practice at appearing mature and trustworthy. Fighting the impossible did have its advantages on occasion.

The guard eyed her and Mio suspiciously. Minna had made sure to wear her uniform today so that he would know she could take care of herself, but there still wasn't much reason for her to be this deep in Venezia. She had to sell it as a vacation. Once she got into Trieste, she could try to find a way to get a meeting with Air Vice-Marshall Galland, who would hopefully still be there. If Minna couldn't get in here, she could return to Venice and try to contact Galland from there, but Minna wasn't very hopeful about that option. Her chances of finding a working means of communication back in the devastated Venice were slim, and if she backtracked much further she might miss out on her chance to meet up with Galland.

"Vacation?" the guard said. He glanced through their passports for a moment, then looked back at Minna and Mio. "Trieste really isn't in a good state for a vacation right now. Half the city is overcrowded, and the other half is either abandoned or in the midst of reconstruction."

"That's why we've come here," Mio said. She leaned down a bit so the guard could see her through the driver-side window. "We want to do what we can to help Venezia recover, even on our vacation. We plan to set an example that it's safe for others to come back."

Minna tried not to smile too much at Mio. Knowing Mio, that wouldn't turn out to be a lie, even if it wasn't the full truth. With Mio's fan following, it was inevitable that some newspaper would pick up on her visit to Venezia, and the story would spread quickly. It was actually quite a good idea, and it almost made Minna wish it was the real reason for their visit.

"Hrm, alright," the guard said. "Give me a minute." He took their passports and withdrew to his office. A few minutes later, he returned with a clipboard in his hand, a puzzled look on his face. He handed the passports back to Minna and said, "It looks like you're expected. We received orders from Air Vice-Marshal Galland to let you through."

Minna tried not to let her surprise show on her face. "Is that so? Is there any mention of where she expects to meet me?"

"All it says here is to let you through to Trieste," the guard said. He held the clipboard down for Minna and passed her a pen. "Sign here. If the Air Vice-Marshal is expecting you, then I'm sure someone in Trieste will be able to help you get in touch with her."

Minna took the pen and signed the orders on the clipboard, disappointed to find that there weren't any clues on it as to why Galland was expecting her or where she was expected to go. It would at least make getting a meeting easier, even if Galland's actions were even less incomprehensible to her now.

"Thank you," the guard said as he took back the clipboard. He nodded to his colleague, who raised the gate to let Minna and Mio through.

Minna nodded at the guard in thanks, a bit distracted by her own thoughts. As soon as she'd rolled up the window and resumed driving, she said, "You didn't tell anyone we were going to Trieste, did you, Mio?"

"Well, I told Junko. Someone needs to keep an eye on Shirley and Lucchini, after all." Mio said. She turned her head to the window, watching as the city of Trieste came into view. "She doesn't have any connection to Air-Vice Marshal Galland, though. I don't think there are even any Karlsländers in the 504th."

"I see..." Minna said. She focused on driving for a few minutes as the traffic picked up near the city. A lot of residents seemed to be rushing back to the city now that the Neuroi threat was gone. "I guess we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out. If we can find a hotel that's open, that is..."

"Tomorrow will come either way," Mio said. She leaned back in her seat and looked over at Minna. "We can always sleep out under the stars for one night if we have to. It doesn't look like rain tonight, and I doubt the night will be very cold."

"I was actually counting on the privacy of a hotel room," Minna said, which earned her a confused glance from Mio. Minna smiled at this display, deciding to play it coy until Mio figured it out on her own. "You'll see."

X-X-X

**Author's Note:** My apologies to those who were hoping to see more on some of the other characters. I have plot points in mind for Yoshika, Shirley, and Lucchini, but anything at this point would just be obvious filler. I hope everyone still enjoyed this chapter. Please drop a review to let me know what parts you liked or didn't like, speculate, or just squee. Either way, I love hearing from everyone. ;)

**Canonicity Notes:**

Anabuki Tomoko, Sakomizu Haruka.: Canon characters from the first series of light novels (the "Suomus Misfits" series). They were last heard from back in ~1940, so I am assuming a lot of development and maturation on their parts. They were also the first witches to encounter humanoid Neuroi, which were quite different from the ones seen in the anime. The ones they fought were essentially clones of witches made out of colored metals, detailed down to their faces. The Neuroi they faced were a lot more like conventional aircraft, and didn't even have cores, so I'm going to be assuming this is all due to developing Neuroi technology.

If you're wondering what Tomoko and Haruka look like, you can see a figurine of Tomoko in Season 1, episode 8, at the 8-minute mark. Haruka doesn't appear in the anime, but she looks a lot like Yoshika with longer bangs (she even has the same familiar as Yoshika). She's older now though, so imagine Yoshika in about four years.

Lehtovaara: OC, based on Finnish ace Urho Lehtovaara. There aren't any current characters associated with the SIVAS or 507th that could fill this role who aren't on the other side of the world (Ursula Hartmann) or retired by this point (pretty much everyone else).

507th and 502nd Joint Fighter Wings: Tomoko's squadron, the Suomus Independent Volunteer Air Squadron, was eventually upgraded into the 507th Joint Fighter Wing, operating out of Kauhava. The 502nd JFW is stationed relatively close to them, in Petersburg, Orussia.

Neuroi models: Specific Neuroi designs are named in the light novels, but they all refer to much older models. The specific models named here don't have a canon basis.

Trude's promotion: This was from my previous fic, not any canon material.

Damage to areas of Venezia: No canon information (that I know of) on exactly which areas were taken over by the Neuroi or how bad the damage is. For those who don't want to pull up a map of Italy, Trieste is at the far southeast corner of the mainland portion of Italy.


	3. Forever Connected

**Author's Note:** Welcome back. For those of you looking for romance, and particularly the Eilanya fans, this chapter is for you. I hope you all will read and enjoy. ^^

X-X-X

**Title:** Wartorn

**Chapter Rating:** T

**Chapter 3:** Forever Connected

X-X-X

**Paris, Gallia**

**Montmartre**

"Right here," Perrine said, coming to a stop at last. It had taken her a bit of time to decide on the perfect spot, but she couldn't afford anymore delay. She spread out a blanket on the grass and motioned for Lynne to sit down with her on it, facing the city to the south. "Until La Tour Eiffel is repaired, this is the best spot to see Paris from above. Without a Striker, that is."

Lynne's curiosity shown through in her expression, but she was steadfastly refusing to inquire what Perrine had planned for the evening. Lynne really took politeness to a fault sometimes. Perrine had been prepared to fend off inquiries, but she hadn't needed to do so a single time so far. Even now, Lynne wasn't asking what part was supposed to be the surprise. She simply sat down on the blanket next to Perrine and gazed out at the city. After a minute passed, Lynne said, "It's so beautiful... From up here, you can't even tell that the city was occupied by the Neuroi just a year ago."

"Just about..." Perrine said. She dared to move a bit closer to Lynne. "It's still missing the sight of La Tour Eiffel, but they're working on that. That will probably take a few more years still. But when it is back, it will be perfect." Perrine glanced at her watch. It was just a minute away from 8:00, but the city could still be a bit off from her. "It should be soon. Keep watching. I want you to see why they call Paris the 'City of Light.'"

She'd pretty much given away the surprise there, but Lynne seemed no less awed when light flooded the streets of Paris in an instant. Paris was far from the only city to be illuminated by streetlights at night, but its used of wide avenues throughout the city allowed the light to be seen like nowhere else. The city was alive, despite all it had been through in the past five years. It was the best symbol Perrine could think of for how humanity was standing strong against the Neuroi. The fact that Lynne herself had done a lot to contribute to the rebirth of Paris had to help warm the other girl's heart as well.

"We did it..." Lynne said, her thoughts apparently moving in the same direction. "So many people have returned to Gallia. And so many more can move back to Venezia now..." Lynne shook her head slowly, as if she still didn't believe it all. "Seeing this... it makes me think we can actually win this war. ...We have to. I could never face Yoshika again if I didn't do everything I could to protect everyone."

Perrine was silent for a bit at the mention of Yoshika. She certainly knew what Lynne meant, but her mind had started to run in circles with trying to figure out what Lynne felt. There was no way she could figure it out on her own, though. "She certainly is something... I don't think I can ever thank Yoshika enough for liberating Gallia. Continuing the fight is a start, but..." Perrine let out a sigh. She couldn't avoid the issue. She had to know. "Lynne... I'm curious. How do you... feel about Yoshika?"

Perrine turned away from Lynne as soon as the words were out of her mouth. She'd worded her question poorly, but she might still learn what she needed to know. "What do you mean?" Lynne said. "She's my best friend."

"Er, well..." Perrine said, desperately fighting off a blush. She had to ask this now, or she'd never get another chance. "Is she just that... I mean, have you ever thought about... more?" Perrine's heart pounded in her ears as she asked this. She hadn't even mentioned her own involvement in the matter, but she was still bringing herself to a panic.

It took a few minutes of silence before Perrine was finally able to muster up the courage to look at Lynne again. Lynne was looking down, an air of sadness about her. She noticed Perrine looking at her, and her head slowly rose to meet Perrine's gaze. "Does it really matter? Yoshika left. Whatever else there might be between us... it doesn't really matter when we're on opposite sides of the world."

Something within Perrine snapped at hearing those words. Lynne was all but admitting she felt something for Yoshika, but she was just giving up on it. Whatever it might mean for Perrine herself, she couldn't stand to hear Lynne give up so easily. She had no intention of being Lynne's consolation prize, and she certainly wasn't going to let Lynne give up like that in order to get her for herself.

"No," Perrine said. She stood up and moved in front of Lynne. "You have it backwards. If there's something between you, then it shouldn't matter if the world stands between you. If she won't or can't come to you, then you go to her." Perrine felt her body shaking as she forced down her own feelings. This wasn't the time to think about that.

"Perrine... I..." Lynne said. She looked up at Perrine, revealing that tears had fought their way to her eyes and had started to leak out onto her cheeks. "I thought... you..."

The shaking reached Perrine's face. She couldn't falter. She would never be able to forgive herself if she did anything to take advantage of Lynne's moment of weakness. "I care enough about you to want what's best for you. Even if it isn't what's best for me."

Somehow, this just seemed to make Lynne worse. She wiped away tears from her face. "Perrine... stop... just stop." Perrine felt her heart twist into her chest, wondering if she'd hurt Lynne somehow. "Please just..." Lynne took a deep breath. "Let me make my own decision."

"Lynne..." Perrine said. It felt like her heart had jumped into her throat, and she couldn't get any further words out. This almost felt worse than giving up on Lynne. She'd been ready to stifle her own feelings for the sake of her friend, but she didn't know what to do with this. She didn't even know if she was supposed to be happy or not that she might still have a chance.

Lynne slowly stood up. She spend a moment straightening out her clothes before she stepped toward Perrine. Her tears seemed to have stopped, for the moment at least. "Thank you, Perrine," she said. A small smile formed in her lips, and she reached out to pull Perrine into a hug. "Just... don't let me hurt you," Lynne whispered.

Perrine managed to wrap her own arms around Lynne. "Please don't worry about me..." she said. Despite all the frustration she felt, she couldn't let her friend worry. "Take as long as you need... I'm used to waiting."

X-X-X

**Rome, Romagna**

_**The Witches' Roost**_

Shirley couldn't entirely explain it, but Rome felt like an entirely different city when she didn't have Lucchini with her. The language barrier was probably part of it, but certainly not all of it. Many people here were able to speak at least a little Brittannian, but it was far from everyone. Shirley didn't quite realize how much she'd come to rely on Lucchini translating for her until they spent some time apart. But even when she wasn't trying to communicate with anyone, exploring Rome just didn't have the same magic when she didn't have a friend to do it all with.

That being said, she certainly didn't regret her choice to give Lucchini some time away from her. She did need a chance to visit with her family after this long apart from them, and Shirley didn't want to intrude on their time together too much. Lucchini had of course insisted that Shirley meet her mother, but there was only so much hospitality Shirley could take before her stomach was crying for mercy. She'd fallen asleep not long after that, and today she'd been able to convince Lucchini that it was alright to spend some time alone with her family.

In the end, Shirley had managed to last most of the day before she finally resorted to the one sure cure for boredom: drinking. It wasn't that she'd sought out a place to get drunk, but when she found a bar that was advertising discounts for service members and witches, she'd considered it a sign. She was a bit disappointed that no one here seemed to recognize her, but she'd decided to remedy that one patron at a time. The fact that this seemed to result in free drinks for her as the evening went on had absolutely no bearing on her decision.

It was around 8:00 - or possibly 9:00, as the bar's clock was too blurry for Shirley to tell for sure - that someone finally recognized Shirley without any assistance. Unfortunately, it wasn't a fan. "Will you be needing a ride home, Flight Lieutenant Yeager?"

"Yeager?" Shirley said, turning around and trying to focus on the source of voice. For some reason, this person was determined to be just as blurry as the clock, so Shirley had to work with what clues she could make out. Brunette, white uniform, long zig-zaggy hair... seemed familiar. "Ah, Zig-zags! Call me Shirley, and come, get a drink!" Shirley turned to the bar and raised a hand to try to signal the bartender to get a drink for her new companion, whose name she was still trying to remember.

"Alright... Shirley-san," the newcomer said, moving up to sit on a barstool next to Shirley. "In that case, please just call Takei-san. I must decline your offer, though, as I don't drink."

"Takayson"... who did she know by that name? It was familiar, but she just couldn't place it. Shirley shook her head. It would come to her. "Don't drink... come on!" she said, turning to Takayson. "Can't live without drinking. Food, drink..." Shirley counted off on her fingers, trying to remember the third essential to life. "...baths! Can't live without those."

Shirley was pretty sure she'd said something wrong. She'd gotten good at spotting a disapproving glare, even while drunk. That didn't mean she cared about it, though. "I don't drink alcohol," Takayson told her, "and you are providing me with a very good reason why." She turned to the bartender, catching his eye and nodding. The bartender went off to the back room to get something, and Shirley blinked at Takayson in confusion. "I do in fact drink tea, and the staff here is nice enough to keep some on hand for me."

Tea... that was it! "Takei!" Shirley said, grinning at her companion as she finally remembered where she'd seen her before. "How have you been? Did you enjoy your time off while we did all the fighting for you?"

Yup, that was definitely a disapproving glare. Two of them, in fact. Shirley shook her head to clear up her vision. Nope, just one. It was a bad one, though. Takei let out a frustrated sigh. "We did not in fact have any time off. The 504th was undermanned, but not helpless." Takei looked away for a moment as the bartender came back with a cup of tea for her, and she immediately seemed to relax. "However... your assistance was appreciated. I have no doubts that Romagna would have fallen if it weren't for your presence. Thank you, Shirley."

"Bah! It wasn't just me," Shirley said, taking a swig of her own drink. That was her plan at least, but someone seemed to have drunk out the rest of the beer in her glass from under her nose. No matter; she'd be able to get more soon enough. "It might have been mostly me, but it wasn't just me. But if you're in a thankful mood, I'll be willing to accept any thanks on behalf of the rest of the 501st."

Takei gave Shirley another glare, though it wasn't quite as harsh as before. "I don't think you need anymore 'thanks' tonight. However, if you stay well-behaved until your orders come in, I will be more than willing to thank you." Takei seemed to notice something out of the corner of her eye. Shirley turned around to check it out, but she was only able to make out a pair of blurry figures coming up to the bar from behind the two of them. Takei nodded at the pair and turned back to Shirley, "That means watch yourself. I don't want to see you passing out in the middle of this bar, and I don't want to read in the newspaper tomorrow that buildings across town have had 'Shirley was here' written on them."

"Pfft, I've had enough fun with that," Shirley said. "It's not my fault if everyone else in Liberion thinks it's funny to see where they can write that. If you see that turn up, ask the Liberions in the 504th before you ask me." There was that feeling of being glared at again, though it wasn't coming from Takei this time. Shirley turned around and blinked her eyes, trying to figure out which of the blurry figures that had come up behind her was mad this time. They both appeared to be wearing Liberion uniforms, which definitely wasn't a good sign. "Er, that is, she should look for other Liberions visiting Rome first..."

The taller of the two figures shrugged, and the feeling of being glared at faded away. Perhaps the shorter of the two was taking a cue from her friend that this wasn't worth getting upset about. "I'm not worried. Takei knows I have better things to do while drunk these days." The girl took a seat on the other side of Shirley from Takei and offered her hand. "Dominica, though everyone in Romagna calls me 'Don.'" She gave Shirley a quick handshake, which was quite a bit more firm than Shirley had been expecting from the girl, and then she motioned to the girl that had come in with her. "The blushing one's my wife, Jane."

"Wha-? I am not blushing!" Jane protested as she took a seat next to Dominica. Shirley tried to look at the girl's cheeks to confirm this, but Jane seemed to be ducking to avoid her gaze.

Dominica, however, had no such problems with seeing Jane. "You are now. You're too easy sometimes, Jane." Jane gave sputtered protests at this, and Shirley found herself suddenly wishing she could see the other girl better. She had to be missing quite the cute sight. Maybe she had indeed drunk enough for the night. "Barkeep!" Dominica called out. "A round for all of us, on me."

Then again, maybe one more round wouldn't kill her... A sudden sense of dread meant that if the round didn't kill her, Takei might, however. Shirley cleared her throat, "Er, I'll take some water, I think."

X-X-X

**Trieste, Venezia**

_**Residence San Giovanni**_

**Room 14**

"I give up, Mio," Minna said, dropping her suitcase onto the floor with a sigh. "You're impossible to fluster."

"Is that what you were trying to do?" Mio said. That would explain the odd intonation Minna used when telling the clerk that the two of them would be fine sharing a single bed. "I thought something was odd, but I figured you were just trying to give me more hints about why you wanted the privacy of a hotel room." She placed her own suitcase down near Minna's and started to look through it for her nightclothes.

"Well, you were starting to worry me..." Minna said. As Mio pulled her nightrobe out of the suitcase, she caught a glare from Minna out of the corner of her eye. "In fact, you still are. What were you planning to use that for?"

Mio paused. Minna did have a point there. She placed the nightrobe back into her suitcase and instead fished around for her toiletries. "Ah... right. Some habits are hard to break," she said, hoping that she hadn't accidentally offended Minna somehow. "But I really should take a shower first..." Mio paused. That was just as likely to offend. She looked over at Minna, trying to find the right words. Her friend had put an unreadable mask on, so there was no help coming from that direction. "I guess I don't have to shower first, though..."

A smile broke out on Minna's face at this. "It took you long enough to get flustered," she said. She walked over to Mio and planted a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "But I agree. It would be rude for you to shower first." She stepped past Mio and opened the door to the bathroom. "The same would go if I showered first, of course, so I do believe there's only one solution."

Mio didn't grasp Minna's meaning right away, though fortunately this time she needed only one clue to figure it out. In this case, the clue in question was the fact that Minna pulled her into the bathroom behind her and began to undress Mio before she could get a word in edgewise.

X-X-X

**Paris, Gallia**

_**Hotel Clichy**_

**Room 303**

Perrine collapsed. Today had been exhausting, emotionally and physically. The physical part was only starting to catch up with her now, after the thrill of showing Lynne around Montmartre had faded, but at least the emotional part was starting to get a bit better. She couldn't shake the feeling that Lynne was just trying to make her feel better by saying she hadn't made her mind up yet, but Perrine didn't want to voice her concerns.

Perhaps now would be a good time for that letter. Sakamoto had slipped Perrine a letter just as she was leaving, and Perrine had been putting off reading it. After confessing her feelings to Sakamoto and getting turned down, Perrine didn't expect that the letter could say anything that would really make her feel better. It was more likely to just dredge up old feelings. She'd wanted to simply spend some time with Lynne without risking souring her mood, but that wasn't really such a risk now.

She would have enough time while Lynne was showering to read through the letter, and if it did affect her particularly badly, then Lynne would at least be there for her. She could rely on her friend for that, whatever else might be going on between the two of them. Perrine rolled over onto her side and began to dig through her suitcase. She found the letter at the bottom, pulled it out of its envelope, and lay back on the bed.

_Perrine-san,_

_I apologise for not being able to say this to you directly, but I don't trust that I'll be able to get a private moment with you before you leave. First of all, I wish to thank you. If it were not for your confession last night, I would not have been able to figure some things out for myself. I doubt it's much consolation, but my current happiness is because of you._

_I've received word that there may yet be more I can do for the war effort, so I expect to be occupied for some time. However, I do wish to make you an offer, for when I am free. If you would like, I will be willing to train you as my apprentice. In all honesty, I should have made this offer to you much earlier. I was blind to many things, and I had convinced myself that the daughter of Dr. Miyafuji would be the perfect apprentice. Although I may well have been correct about that, I failed to consider that you might have been an equally suitable candidate._

_Make your own choice, Perrine. I have caused enough trouble by trying to make Miyafuji's decisions for her, and I don't plan to make the same mistake again. I'll contact you again when I'm available. If you wish to pursue this, I will do what I can to make it happen._

_Dewa mata,_

_Sakamoto Mio_

Perrine closed her eyes and smiled. This one time, she would resist bursting into tears over a kind gesture from Sakamoto. Perhaps in time, she'd take Sakamoto up on her offer. If she returned to the front lines, she would certainly be able to use the training. But for the time being, there was still too much to be done in Gallia.

Perrine opened her eyes and looked toward the bathroom when she heard the shower stop. For this week, even the reconstruction of Gallia could wait. If Lynne was only going to get one week of leave, then Perrine was going to make sure that her friend enjoyed it as much as possible.

X-X-X

**Paris, Gallia**

_**Hotel Clichy**_

**Room 305**

Eila glanced to the side as she heard a muffled thump, though fortunately it seemed to just be Sanya collapsing onto the bed. If it were anyone but Sanya, and if her head hadn't landed perfectly on her pillow, Eila might have worried that she'd tripped. With Sanya though, this was all quite normal. She did usually at least change into her nightclothes, fall asleep in her own bed, then decide against it and sleepwalk to Eila's bed first, but Eila wasn't concerned. They were sharing a bed, after all - she and Perrine had agreed to use the excuse of saving money to get a pair of single-occupancy rooms - and Sanya had had a long day, so she might not have even had the energy left to change into her nightclothes.

Eila smiled at the sight of Sanya dozing on the bed. She would have to get Sanya out of her coat and into her nightclothes sooner or later, but for now she could let Sanya rest. She'd had a suspicion that Sanya might be quite the art lover, and today had given her a chance to confirm it. Eila didn't think she'd ever seen Sanya as energetic as when she was browsing the artists' studios throughout Montmartre. Eila had thought that she'd been the one who was getting worn out, though perhaps Sanya's excitement was just preventing her fatigue from showing.

Tearing her gaze away from Sanya, Eila pulled her nightclothes out of her suitcase and got changed into them. She decided to follow Sanya's lead, and she let herself collapse onto the bed beside Sanya. It wasn't until after she'd hit the bed that she realized that she'd forgotten to place a pillow in front of her face, resulting in a strongly-worded complaint from her nose, a moan of pain from her mouth, and a sudden burst of laughter from Sanya.

Sanya quickly stifled her laughter when Eila's turned her head towards her. "You don't have to hurt yourself just to amuse me, Eila," Sanya said, though her eyes betrayed the fact that she did appreciate the inadvertent gesture.

Eila rolled onto her side so she could face Sanya better, bringing a hand up to rub her nose. "I didn't think it would hurt that much," she said, a pout crossing her face. Sanya's smile made it hard to maintain the pout, though. With a sigh, Eila rolled back and turned her body so that she could rest her head on the pillow. "Just leave me to my misery and go get changed into your nightclothes..." she said with an exaggerated sigh. "The sooner you get changed, the sooner you can fall asleep."

Sanya let out a quick giggle, and she pushed herself back off of the bed. She didn't move to get changed right away, instead walking closer to the head of the bed so that she could lean down and plant a kiss on Eila's nose. Raising her head back up to meet Eila's confused gaze, Sanya simply smiled at her. "That's what I'm supposed to do, right? Kiss it better?"

There was an innocent look in Sanya's eyes, but her smile betrayed her intentions. She was trying to return Eila's silliness with some of her own. At least, that's what Eila decided to believe, rather than that Sanya had been trying to trick her into thinking she was about to kiss Eila's lips as some sort of tease. Shaking that thought out of her head, Eila let herself chuckle at Sanya's actions. "Right. Thank you, Sanya."

Eila rolled onto her side as Sanya began to change. She didn't think she could trust herself to watch Sanya after that near miss with the kiss. Of course Sanya hadn't been going to kiss her lips. They hadn't gotten to that stage in their relationship yet. And when they did, it would have to be at just the right moment. Tonight was... well, it was the end of a long, fun day together, followed by a romantic dinner and a cabaret show in the evening. She'd planned it all out to give Sanya one of the best days of her life, and then she'd chickened out from acting on her own feelings, for fear that they wouldn't be returned in kind and she'd just ruin Sanya's day.

Or perhaps she'd just missed out on the perfect chance to move on to the next stage of her relationship with Sanya. Well... the night wasn't quite over yet. She could still try to muster up a conversation before Sanya fell asleep. Maybe she could play it carefully, to make sure that she didn't put Sanya off in any way. She'd just have to wait for the perfect opportunity.

Perhaps Sanya was even trying to provide it for her. That was one possible interpretation of how Sanya lay down on the bed behind Eila, wrapped her arms around her friend, and let out a happy sigh. "Thank you for putting up with me today, Eila. It's been just wonderful."

"'Putting up with'...?" Eila rolled over so she could face Sanya, giving her a confused look. "I had fun, too. And besides, I'd do anything to make you happy, you know that." Eila gazed into Sanya's eyes as she said this. Sanya did know. The only question was whether she knew the extent of Eila's feelings. "Sanya... can I ask you something?" Eila said, her heart starting to pound in her chest. She wasn't going to get a better moment than this.

"Of course," Sanya said. The adorable gaze she gave Eila almost made her forget about what she'd been planning to ask, at least until one of Sanya's eyebrows rose questioningly.

"Er, well..." Eila said, stammering to find the words. She couldn't really go through with this, could she? But she had to. It wasn't going to get any better than this. "I was just wondering... that is, what would you say if... if I asked you..." Eila closed her eyes and forced herself to spit the words out, "if you'd be my girlfriend..."

Silence. After an interminable minute, Eila pried one of her eyes open, afraid that Sanya might be panicking and trying to find the best way to let Eila down easily. Perhaps she was just thinking about it, though. But no, Sanya's face showed complete and utter confusion. She seemed to be searching for words herself, but every time something seemed to come to her lips, it fell away without a word leaving her mouth.

"Um, er, you don't have to answer right now!" Eila said, trying to at least put Sanya at ease, or get herself out of this without ruining their friendship. "It's alright if you don't feel the same way... I mean, I know most girls prefer boys... so if that's it, it's fine and I'm sorry. Just please, Sanya... don't... don't... why are you laughing!"

Laughter seemed to have taken hold of Sanya, for some inexplicable reason. She ended up rolling onto her back and bringing a hand to her eyes as the laughter refused to stop. "Eila... I'm... I'm sorry..." she said through her giggles.

"Wha-?" Was she being turned down? But why would Sanya find that so amusing?

Sanya shook her head after a bit. "No... it's... it's just that..." Sanya swallowed her laughter and took a couple deep breaths, before she turned back to Eila. She gazed into Eila's eyes, her own eyes filled with warmth. "I thought we already were girlfriends."

X-X-X

**Canonicity Notes:**

Takei Junko: Canon character. She was the witch who tried to communicate with the Neuroi in the opening of Season 2, and she made a couple other appearances in the anime. She was also the main character of the first DS game, a major character of the second (now non-canonical) manga, and a major character of the Strike Witches Zero manga. She's Mio's oldest known friend, going back at least to when she was 11 and Mio was 12.

Dominica S. Gentile and Jane T. Godfrey: Canonical members of the 504th. Dominica is one of their top aces, and Jane is her wingman (or "wife" as Dominica puts it). "Don" is intended to be her nickname; it isn't a misromanization of "Dom." It's used in the sense of "Chief" or "Boss." And yes, they are canonically a couple.

**Other Notes:**

Locations: The hotel and bar names are made-up, other locations are based on the real world. Montmartre refers both to a district of Paris and the hill in that district. "Montmartre" translates to "Mountain of the martyr," which I swear I didn't realize until after writing that scene.

"Dewa mata": A slightly formal form of "See you" in Japanese... er, Fusogo.

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone for reading this. For those looking for the plot, stay tuned for next chapter where it will hit in full force. Coming up next: Francesca Lucchini, Adolfine Galland, Tomoko and Haruka, and the only witch more obsessed with regulations than Trude.


	4. Galland's Gambit

**Author****'****s ****Note****:** My sincere apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out. No novel excuse, simply life getting in the way, and needing to be in the proper mood to write. But it's out now, and hopefully the next chapter won't take quite so long. I'll warn you upfront about a massive plotbomb here; romance will have to take a backseat for a bit as I push the plot forward. There's some lingo in this chapter that you might not all be familiar with, so I'll give you a couple primers up front.

One note on a correction that I'll be making to previous chapters: Adolfine Galland's rank should be Air Commodore, not Air Vice-Marshal. Most sources point to the former being correct, including Galland's official profile, and the fact that the real-life Adolf Galland appears to have held the rank of Oberst (which I'm translating here to the British equivalent, Air Commodore) during this period of WWII.

**Aviation terminology**** notes****:**

_Cruising __range_: The maximum distance an aircraft can travel and return from without running out of fuel.

_Heading_: The direction an aircraft is facing, or which it has to face to reach its destination.

_Bearing_: The direction toward the destination, or the direction an aircraft is actually moving. The influence of wind is what causes this to differ from heading.

_Ceiling_: Roughly speaking, the maximum altitude an aircraft can reasonably reach. There are a few variant definitions, that are subtly different. From lowest to highest:

-_Combat __ceiling_: The maximum altitude at which an aircraft can still climb at a rate reasonable for combat (usually defined as 150 m/min).

-_Service __ceiling_: The maximum altitude at which an aircraft can reasonably reach (usually defined as still having a climb rate of 30 m/min).

-_Absolute__ ceiling_: Theoretical maximum altitude at which an aircraft can maintain level flight. (Climb rate of 0 here.)

**Rank ****and other ****notes****:**

For simplicity, I'm translating all ranks and unit terms into the nearest British... er, Brittanian equivalent. For reference, here's a list of air force ranks, from highest to lowest:

-Marshal of the Air Force

-Air Chief Marshal

-Air Marshal

-Air Vice-Marshal

-Air Commodore - Galland's rank, and the lowest rank considered to be an "air officer"

-Group Captain

-Wing Commander - Minna's rank

-Squadron Leader

-Flight Lieutenant - The lowest rank allowed to lead a wing

-Flying Officer - The lowest rank allowed to lead a squadron

-Pilot Officer

Below all of these are enlisted ranks, for those who haven't gone to an officer's school and received a commission. Although technically lower than all commissioned ranks, the more senior enlisted servicemembers may still merit a large amount of respect. A Pilot Officer who tried to order around a Warrant Officer would be quite unwise, for instance.

-Warrant Officer

-Flight Sergeant

-Sergeant - The lowest rank a witch can hold

-Corporal

-Aircraftman

Some other terms:

_FlaK_: Ground-based anti-air defenses. I'm leaving this one untranslated as there's no concise English translation. (The Germans at least had the courtesy to shorten "Fliegerabwehrkanone" to "FlaK")

_88_: Nickname for the 8.8 cm anti-tank/anti-air gun.

_EKdo_: Short for "Erprobungskommando," a unit tasked with testing new aircraft under operational conditions.

_Group__/__Wing__/__Squadron_: I'll be using these terms in the British sense, where a group is larger than a wing, which is larger than a squadron.

X-X-X

**Title****:** Wartorn

**Chapter ****Rating****:** K+

**Chapter**** 4:** Galland's Gambit

X-X-X

**Rome****, ****Romagna**

**Palace ****of**** Duchess**** Maria**** of ****Romagna**

**Dining**** Room**

"Is something wrong, Francesca?" Maria asked as Lucchini sat down across from her. "You seem to be a lot more tense than I remember."

"...Lucchini," Lucchini said, looking off to the side. One of Maria's guards was staring daggers at her right now. At least, she assumed he was. The dark sunglasses made it impossible to see his eyes, but his face was pointed straight towards her, and it did not have a pleasant expression on it. The other three guards stationed around the room were facing different ways, but she wouldn't have been surprised if they were all watching her as well. Given what she'd done to the pair of guards who Maria had been trying to escape from when they first met, Lucchini couldn't say she really blamed these guards for keeping an eye on her. That didn't make it any more comfortable, though.

"Lucchini, then..." Maria said. "Are you alright?"

Lucchini let out a low growl as she tore her gaze away from the guard. She leaned across the table so that she could whisper to Maria, hopefully without the guards hearing her. "We have to come up with a plan to handle this. There's no way we can have a pleasant dinner with all these guards staring at us. Once I come up with something, just follow my lead."

Maria blinked in confusion. She turned her head to look at the guards for a bit before she seemed to come to a decision. She leaned toward Lucchini and whispered to her, "I have an idea, actually. Let me handle this."

Lucchini's eyes widened. She hadn't been expecting Maria to have a devious bone in her body, but she couldn't say she was disappointed to find this out. Nodding, she leaned back in her seat and tried to start eating while Maria went ahead with whatever her plan was. If the plan involved the two of them getting out of here, this meal might have to be abandoned, so she made sure to get down what she could she was still here.

Whatever Lucchini might have been expecting from Maria's plan, it wasn't for Maria to suddenly clap her hands and say, "Please wait outside the room. I am comfortable that I can trust Miss Lucchini with my life." In unison, the guards nodded and did as Maria requested, leaving the two girls in peace.

Lucchini gaped at this for a long minute. Eventually, she decided to glare at Maria. "That was no fun!"

Maria bit her lips, holding back her laughter as Lucchini glared at her. "I don't know about that. I'm finding your reaction quite amusing."

That certainly didn't help matters. Lucchini had to do something about her wounded pride, and she had to do it quickly. Thinking quickly, she went with the first thing to come to her mind. "Come on," she said, hopping out of her chair and running around the table to grab Maria's hand.

A bit uncertainly, Maria stood up. "What are we doing?"

"Getting some time to ourselves," Lucchini said. She pulled Maria to the nearest window, pried it open, and climbed out. Turning around once she'd found a foothold on the roof, she said, "Trust me. There's nothing like complete and utter freedom to make a good day great."

X-X-X

**Belgica ****Airspace**

**Transport ****Plane**** "****Graufalke****"**

"Hartmann, wake up!" Trude yelled, trying to shake her comrade to wakefulness. This was not the time to play nice with her.

"Just five more hours..." Erica muttered, somehow managing to remain half asleep even as Trude gave her another shake.

"No five more hours! You wouldn't have that much before we landed even if there weren't Neuroi in the area!"

"Neuroi!" With that, Erica's eyes snapped open. She sat up, nearly crashing her head into Trude's in the process. "Where?"

"Heading toward Maastricht. We're en route to intercept," Trude said. She grabbed a handful of Erica's clothes and tossed them to the other girl. "Get dressed. You have enough time to do that, at least. I'll see if there's anymore information on the situation yet."

"Right right..." Erica said. Some of her sleepiness seemed to have returned with the revelation that she still had a couple minutes to get ready, but at least she was moving now to get dressed.

Erica would be good for the time being, so Trude rushed back to the cockpit. "Fritz," she said, getting the attention of the man working the radio. "Any updates?"

Fritz gave Trude a sharp nod. "We have an identification of the Neuroi. Designation X-38, nicknamed 'Flying Fortress.' More details are incoming, but what I know now is that it's large, even among large-types, high-flying, heavily armored, and likely a bomber. My contact in Aachen is looking through the records to get specifics on it right now. I'll relay it to you as soon as the info is in."

"Alright..." Trude said. This was going to be tough. If it was a bomber, she and Erica wouldn't be at too much risk themselves, but they could still have a lot of trouble getting it down before it reached its target in Maastricht. "Do we have any backup coming? Neither Erica or I brought along any heavy arms, so we won't be able to shoot it down easily without help."

"Doubtful. They wouldn't be asking you to intercept if any active-duty witches were within range. You should be able to count on some ground support, though. I don't have the specifics on what Maastricht can get in range, but they have to have something. Hopefully it'll be high enough calibre to get through the Neuroi's armor."

"Haa... alright. How long until we're within cruising range?" Trude said, turning to the pilot.

"We should be within range now, assuming the Neuroi hasn't changed course," he said, not sparing the focus to turn his head to look at Trude. "If you don't worry about having enough fuel to return, then you're good to go anytime now. You should-"

"We're going," Trude said, cutting him off. "One of you will have to close the bay door after us. We're jumping out as soon as we get armed." Without waiting for an answer, Trude rushed back to the cargo bay, where she and Erica had set up their beds. To her surprise, Erica had already managed to get dressed and had her gun strapped to her back. She was currently struggling with finding a good way to get her Strikers onto her legs without a frame to launch from. "Let me help," Trude said.

"Right," Erica said, standing back up. "So, what's going on, anyway? Aren't we supposed to be off-duty? I was getting some good sleep at last.."

Trude rolled her eyes. "Everyone's tied up or too far away to intercept this one, so we have to do something. I'll explain more in flight. Now come on." It would certainly be awkward to get them into their Strikers without any frames, but Trude was confident she could manage it. She waved Erica over to the bay door. After undoing the locks on it, she called out her familiar and used her augmented strength to pull the door open against the wind. She locked the door in place, then grabbed Erica's Strikers from the other girl. She held them down on the floor, the rotors pointed outward, focusing on keeping them in place against the force of the wind. "You're clear."

Trude couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard a soft sigh pass through Erica's lips. Perhaps she'd been hoping for a more exciting way of putting on her Strikers, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. Erica didn't protest further, simply sitting down to put her Strikers on. As soon as her legs slid in, she pushed herself out of the plane. Trude leaned out to watch as Erica flipped into a dive. Once Erica had built up enough energy to ascend back to the plane, Trude went back into the bay to grab her own guns and Strikers.

It was a bit trickier to get her own Strikers on, as Erica had to hold them for her outside the plane, but after a couple attempts at matching the plane's velocity, they managed it. "Barkhorn to Graufalke. We've cleared the cargo bay. What's our heading?"

A moment later, Fritz's voice came through Trude's earpiece. "Fastest intercept is at bearing 338, but the Neuroi may still change course. Stick to heading 335 for now."

The transport plane fell behind Trude and Erica as they reached their cruising speed. Trude took the time to brief Erica on what she knew about the situation. It seemed that the Neuroi were launching a concentrated again right now, and the Allied forces had been stretched past their limit. If Trude and Erica hadn't been flying through the region right now, Aachen would have had to rely on nothing but conventional anti-air defenses, which could easily have turned out to be completely useless if the Neuroi were flying too high.

Minutes passed in silence until Fritz's voice came over the radio again. "More info for you. Bandit is at altitude 10 km, ground speed 350 kph. Recommend you reach your ceiling before engaging."

"I read, Graufalke," Trude replied. She began to pull up, as Fritz had recommended. Her Striker unit, the Fw 190, had a service ceiling of 12 kilometers, so she would be able to get at least one good run at the Neuroi, for what it was worth.

"FlaK support looks to be limited to guns," Fritz continued. "Wherever the Neuroi approaches, Maastricht should be able to field two or three guns, with batteries surrounding the city proper. Assuming 88s, you'll have to get the Neuroi down to 7.5 km for them to be any help."

"Copy," Trude said, trying not to let her disappointment show in her voice. That wouldn't be too much help, but it was all she could expect behind the front lines. But even getting that much help would be tough; forcing a Neuroi bomber to descend was never an easy task, particularly when it came to large-types. If they couldn't prove they were a threat to it, it would have no reason to alter its course. But if they were a threat to it, then they didn't need the ground support in any case. That wasn't likely to be the situation, though. "Any word on the Neuroi's defenses? How tough is it?"

"Tough, apparently. Only one confirmed victory over this type, made by shooting out the engines. But I do have good news: You have support incoming. Kommando Nowotny reported that they could spare a witch to help you, who has experience with this type. I'll patch you through to her as soon as she's in range, but you'll have to engage before she arrives."

"Copy," Trude said again. She was a bit surprised that only one witch was coming to assist them, and not at least a pair, but that was probably just a testament to how thin the Allied forces were stretched right now.

"Kommando Nowatny..." Erica said. She seemed to have gotten lost in thought for a moment. It was on subject at least, so Trude let it pass. "That's Waltraud Nowatny?"

"Do you know her?" Trude asked.

"Ursula mentioned her name to me," Erica said. "I think that's a Jet Striker squadron. I thought Nowatny was in command of the 503rd, though... She must be busy these days."

"Jet Strikers? Are they safe to use already?"

"I hope so..." Erica said. "Ursula seemed pleased that they were upgrading EKdo 131 to a squadron, so they must have made some progress."

"I see..." It had been a while since Trude had thought about using a Jet Striker, but hearing about an improved model already had her itching to try it out. She would have to resist that urge for now. Even after this Neuroi was dealt with, she wouldn't want to get herself in trouble again, right before she was promoted - which was a notable risk if her ego took hold of her once more.

"Graufalke to Barkhorn," came Fritz's voice after a few more minutes of flight. "You should be invisible range of the Neuroi within five minutes. I'm going to attempt to patch through the witch coming to assist."

"I copy," Trude said.

It took a few more minutes, but eventually a voice managed to break through the static in Trude's earpiece. "This … Schwartzekatze-2. … read me?"

"This is Barkhorn. I read you, barely. Hartmann, are you hearing her?"

"I read," Erica replied. Trude allowed herself a moment to be impressed that Erica seemed to have actually learned the lessons Trude had drilled into her about speaking clearly and using multiple words over the radio, for cases just like this. Perhaps she wasn't hopeless… just difficult.

"You really … use callsigns. They're harder to get mixed …, and we still don't know … if the Neuroi are monitoring our communications."

"We'll talk about that later, Schwartzekatze," Trude said. The logic was sound, but now was certainly not the time to be thinking up callsigns. "What do we need to know about this Neuroi, the Flying Fortress?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Trude could have sworn that she could hear the sound of Schwartzekatze saluting over the radio, but she had to be imagining things. The transmission was getting clearer, but it couldn't have been that clear. "The Flying Fortress is shaped like … Allied bomber. It stores drones in its belly, which act like guided bombs when they're released. It … four weapon emplacements, one on each wing, and one on either side of the fuselage. Its weakest coverage is directly behind it."

"Copy. What's the best way to take it down?"

"The core is near the front, on top, but you can't get near it without being exposed to most of its weapons at the same time. If you want to go for the core, you'll have to shoot out some of its weapons first, then dig at it. Otherwise, you can go for the engines. It has four exposed engines, just like an Allied bomber, and they're a bit more vulnerable than the rest of it. You'll have to be careful not to suffocate your Striker while going for them, though."

"Copy, thank you," Trude said. She could barely make out a black spot in front of her, so she had to come up with a plan quickly. They wouldn't have the firepower to get through to the core without some support, so their first priority had to be getting the Neuroi to lose altitude. They would only be able to use their altitude advantage for one pass, so they'd have to make the most of it. "Hartmann, focus fire on the leftmost engine with me for our first pass. Maintain as much energy as you can, and try to make a second pass at the engine if possible."

"I'm on it," Erica said. "Just watch, I've got an idea."

X-X-X

**Trieste****, ****Venezia**

**Ronchi**** dei**** Legionari**** Airfield**

There was a noticeable buzz in the air once Minna and Mio crossed into the military zone of Trieste. Outside, people were focused on settling in, with many of them making temporary fixes to buildings damaged by the Neuroi, but with no overall goal in mind for restoring the city. It would likely take the government many months before reconstruction efforts could officially begin.

The military zone was a different story. Everyone knew exactly what needed to be done, and people were hard at work getting the bases back into shape. It almost seemed like things were happening too quickly, but that was most likely just the effect of Air Commodore Galland's presence. She was always hyper-efficient, so it was no surprise that her efficiency and sense of purpose would trickle down to the soldiers under her command.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the presence of a small group of what appeared to be scientists. It wasn't unusual to find researchers on bases away from the front lines, as there was always a new model of Striker or gun that needed testing and analysis. A base like this, newly recaptured and one of the first points of defense against a counter-attack, would normally be completely devoid of researchers. Something was going on, but none of the witches Minna stopped to query about the subject had any idea what it was, and none of the scientists would say. The only clue was the abnormal number of spy-planes that had been sent out in the past few days, from which the scientists seemed to be getting their raw data.

The witches Minna talked to did, however, all point her in the direction of Air Commodore Galland. Whatever was going on, Galland knew what it was and was convinced that it was critically important. Minna would have to make sure to get whatever information she could out of the Air Commodore.

Galland had been pulled away from her office by the time Minna and Mio reached it, but it wasn't too hard to track her down. For Mio, at least. "That's her," Mio said, pointing at a figure standing in front of one of the other hangars, halfway across the airfield.

"You can see her that clearly?" Minna said as she began walking in the direction of Galland. She could see a few people there, but they were still too far off to make out any faces. One of them did have a hairstyle that matched Galland's, though. Mio probably did have better eyesight than Minna, thanks to the training she did to help out her magic eye, but it still seemed unlikely she could make out Galland's face at this distance.

"It's her," Mio said, "Unless there's another witch on this base who's powerful enough to fly a Striker Unit while wearing pants."

Minna mentally slapped herself. While she'd been trying to identify Galland by her hairstyle and face, Mio had gone straight to the feature that made Galland unique: She was the only witch who flew while wearing pants. When the first leg-mounted Striker Unit had been developed, quite a few witches had had their take-offs delayed when their pants had gotten tangled up with their strikers as they attempted to jump in. Aside from Galland, every witch had gone with the expedient of simply going without pants whenever they might have been called into combat.

Citing reasons of comfort, Galland found another solution. With the early models of Strikers, which used a backpack to store the engine, she was able to make do by simply wearing tight-fitting pants or strapping her cuffs to her ankles. She would have stood out for this alone, but it wasn't until the advent of post-Miyafuji Strikers, which used the Miyafuji effect to shunt the witch's legs to another dimension and make room in the leg-pieces for the engines, that Galland really managed to impress her fellow witches. Rather than simply giving in to everyone else's solution, she'd somehow figured out how to redirect the Miyafuji effect to her pant-legs before they had a chance to get caught on the Striker.

That trick was only the most obvious sign of Galland's skill, though. As Galland came into clear view, Minna could begin to sense the strength that the woman exuded. There was a force of will to her that drove everyone in her proximity to do better. Minna wasn't immune to it herself, though she had at least been able to redirect that energy to argue for what she believed in earlier that year, convincing Galland to reform the 501st. She had a feeling that the favor had come due, though, particularly when Galland caught her eye.

"You certainly got here quickly, Wolf," Galland said, diverting her attention from the mechanic she was talking to. "I didn't mean to imply it was so urgent that you'd need to use your Strikers to fly out here."

"I was already at the checkpoint when I got your orders," Minna said. "I was hoping we could discuss why you chose to disband the 501st."

Galland raised an eyebrow. Her eyes briefly shot to Mio. "I see. Meet me in my office in ten minutes. There's a lot to discuss. Although..." Her eyes fixed on Mio again. "I may not be able to tell the two of you everything you want to know. A lot of this is highly classified, after all."

"Of course. Thank you, Ma'am," Minna said. She turned around to head toward Galland's office, though she didn't realize that Mio had remained behind until the other girl began to speak to Galland.

"If that's an issue, then I can leave you to talk with Minna alone," Mio said. Minna turned back, somewhat surprised that Mio would give up on a chance to get some answers. Then again, if she was simply doing this so that Minna at least could get some answers, it wasn't that unusual an action for her. Or perhaps she'd just assumed that Minna would fill her in later. "I have other matters I need to attend to, in any case," Mio continued. "Is there a working telegraph on base that I could use?"

"Hangar Two," Galland said. She spent only a moment studying Mio before apparently deciding that she could trust her to have a good reason. "Tell them you have my permission, and to ask me if they need confirmation. Just don't interfere if anyone else needs it."

"Of course. Thank you, Air Commodore." With those words, Mio gave a respectful salute, and Galland nodded, indicating that Mio was dismissed.

As Mio began to walk away with Minna, Minna said eyed her. She couldn't recall the last time Mio had saluted her, even though she had been Mio's commanding officer for over a year. "What do I have to do to get you to salute me like that?"

Mio raised an eyebrow. Her eyes glanced around for a moment, as if she were checking to make sure no one was near enough to listen in. They finally settled on Minna, and she stated one simple word: "Ask."

"Perhaps tonight," Minna said, letting a smile cross her lips.

X-X-X

**Baltic ****Sea**

**One week**** prior**

"Are you sure you're alright, Tomoko? No strange thoughts or anything?" Haruka said.

"I'm fine! I just need to drop some weight," Tomoko replied. She was keeping pace with the Neuroi, but just barely. It was still too far away to risk wasting any bullets on it, and she needed to do something to catch up before it returned to its base. It must have scanned her with that attack, and she couldn't afford to let it return with that information. The only option left to pick up speed was to decrease her mass. As much as she regretted it, her sword had to go. "Take my sword, Haruka."

"What? No! If one of us has to go, I'm going!" Haruka said. Despite her words, the fact that she'd fallen behind Tomoko was evidence to the fact that her magic was beginning to run out after using it up on her shields.

"You can't make it, and we both know it. Just catch," Tomoko said. She unbuckled her sword's holster and pulled it off. Her scarf didn't weight too much, but it was something else she could ditch, so she pulled it off and wrapped it around the sword. "I'll be back. Trust me."

Tomoko tossed her sword and scarf back to Haruka, getting only a sigh in reply. She didn't let it get to her, though. She could already feel herself picking up a few precious kilometers-per-hour. She was gaining on the Neuroi, but not nearly as fast as she wished. By the time the Neuroi was close enough that she might have a chance of hitting it, she was already able to see land on the horizon in front of them.

Tomoko spent a moment trying to figure out where they would be by now. They'd been heading nearly straight south, and after this distance they would have to be hitting Neuroi-occupied territory. Probably northeast Karlsland. The Neuroi presence there was too strong for her to risk getting much closer. She had to take her shot now.

Behind the Neuroi, a black cloud slowly came into view: A hive. If Tomoko managed to get out of this, she would have to report its location to Allied Command. It could mean that the Neuroi were planning to attack. But first, she had to make sure that that attack wouldn't end up including clones of herself. She raised her gun and leveled the sight at the Neuroi. This was as good as it was going to get.

_Attack__!_ The Neuroi halted, spinning in place to face Tomoko. Her eyes caught the red glint of its core just as her finger squeezed down on her rifle's trigger. With the Neuroi sitting prone in front of her, she was able to destroy its core in a matter of seconds.

As Tomoko slowed to a halt, a sense of dread came over her. This was bad. Confusing, but definitely bad. "Haruka! Can you hear me?"

"I hear you, Tomoko. Are you alright?" She must not have stopped after she'd caught Tomoko's sword and scarf, as her voice was still coming through quite clearly over the radio.

"No. Return to base." There was no getting around it. As much as Tomoko might have wanted to tell herself to attack that Neuroi, the voice in her head hadn't been her own. "I'm infected. I'm turning the 507th over to you. Do whatever it takes to get me discharged if I change my mind later."

X-X-X

**Trieste****, ****Venezia**

**Ronchi ****dei**** Legionari**** Airfield**

**Adolfine**** Galland****'****s ****Office**

Galland placed a stack of papers in front of Minna almost as soon as they entered her office and gave Minna a pen. "Sign."

Given that Galland had probably requested Minna come to the base in order to return the favor she owed, Minna took a moment to read the papers before signing. She didn't expect Galland to trick her into signing her life away, but it was best to be careful nonetheless. She wasn't able to figure much out through the bureaucrat-ese, but it seemed to have something to do with granting her certain security credentials. "Is this just about security clearance?" she asked.

"That's the reason you have to sign before I can tell you much of anything, but there are strings attached," Galland said. She took a seat across from Minna and leaned back in her chair. "These strings include a higher salary, authority over anyone of Wing Commander rank or lower, and most importantly, the authorization to form your own battle plans. It's that last part that bumps up your security clearance enough for me to talk frankly with you."

"In other words, a promotion," Minna said. She put the pen down and looked across at Galland as she let this sink in. Minna had her doubts about her own command potential after being at it this long. Even though she was probably being given credit for two large victories over the Neuroi, thpse seemed to have come about more despite her influence than because of it. She met Galland's gaze and said, "Do I have a choice in this?"

"You'll still be allowed to fly as a Group Captain, if that's what you're wondering. They don't try to ground you until you're an Air Commodore," Galland said. "That's not to say they succeed even then, but it does become a bit more difficult."

Minna narrowed her eyes a bit. "That's not my concern. I haven't exactly been a model commander, and I shouldn't be the one credited with the destruction of the Warlock and the Super-Hive. I thought I made it clear in my reports that the credit should go to Miyafuji, Closterman, and Bishop for the Warlock, and Miyafuji and Sakamoto for the Super-Hive."

Galland cracked a grin at this. "You can drop the modest act, Wolf. This isn't about reward. It's about need." She leaned forward and cradled her chin in her hands. "Face it, you're the best commander we've got among witches who can still fly. You outrank Rall already, and she prefers fighting to commanding anyway. Nowatny is stretched too thin right now helping to figure out how best to apply the Me 262s in combat, and she'd sooner die than give up on them. Rudel hasn't been able to fly for over a year. No one else has any experience managing a Joint Fighter Wing, so I don't have much choice, do I?"

Galland still wasn't telling Minna anything about exactly what it was she was needed for. The only clue she'd given was that it would likely involve a Joint Fighter Wing, or perhaps something similar. Minna picked up the pen again, but she hesitated. Tapping it against the paper, she looked back up at Galland. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"Nothing specific. But in general... This is big. It may be our best shot yet to get a foothold in Karlsland," Galland said. She held Minna's gaze, affirming the importance of this with her eyes. "I won't force you, as a reluctant commander is no good to me. I need someone who can lead a group into battle, who can inspire them to keep fighting against seemingly-impossible odds, and who can hold her ground against idiotic bureaucrats who want to keep witches out of the battle. In short, to retake Karlsland, I need you, Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, to lead the charge."

There was no fighting it. If it was this important, then Galland was right. Minna couldn't argue she was the best at any of the traits Galland needed, but she also couldn't argue that any of the alternatives would be overall better than her. "Fine. You win," she said, signing her name on the orders. "Now tell me, what have I just signed up for?"

"Operation 'Longinus,'" Galland said, a smirk splitting across her face. "Also known as the Konigsberg Offensive. The 507th recently discovered a hive in Konigsberg airspace, signaling that the Neuroi are preparing an offensive. We had plans for an offensive there, but now it's going to be a counter-offensive. The way the Neuroi are linked up, that hive presents too tempting a target to pass up."

"Your plans..." Minna said. "Is that what you were planning when you disbanded the 501st? You couldn't just move us?"

"Not without having some Romagnan general overruling me and getting you to try to break through the Alps," Galland said. She pushed herself out of her chair, beginning to pace as she spoke. "If I left you without an objective, I wouldn't get the final say in what your next mission would be, thanks to all the treaties that go into setting up Joint Fighter Wings. I do, however, have the authority to simply disband you upon completion of your mission, followed by reforming a suspiciously similar wing on the opposite side of Karlsland."

"You couldn't have just told me this?" Minna said. "Lucchini's already been snatched up by the 504th, and Bishop is going to be occupied with training for her commission for the next month or two. I could have kept them available if I knew about your plans."

Galland shrugged, staring out one of her office's windows. "It was above your clearance, unfortunately. I'll do what I can to free up Lucchini. Doglio isn't unreasonable, and the 504th will be at good strength even without Lucchini. As for Bishop, it's probably for the best that she gets a commission, so you'll just have to live without her until then. You'll be fine. A couple of witches out of thirty aren't going to be missed in the early days of the operation."

Minna jolted in her seat, barely resisting the urge to curse out Galland. Finally, the catch came to light. She'd been nearly pulling her hair out trying to keep twelve witches in line; there was no way she could handle thirty. "Thirty? How the hell am I expected to hold together a wing of thirty witches, and where am I even supposed to find that many witches?"

Galland turned to face Minna, letting out a chuckle. "I would have thought your promotion would make the situation clear. Once the 501st is reformed, it will be joined by the 502nd and the 507th for this operation. Allied Command has officially approved my proposal to form the first Joint Fighter Group."

This was revenge for forcing Galland to authorize the reformation of the 501st, Minna was sure. But at this point, all she could do about it without facing an insubordination charge was to glare.

"I'll tell you what: You can pick out the group's nickname," Galland said.

X-X-X

**Author****'****s**** Note****:** I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even if the romance (and a few characters) didn't show up here. Coming up next chapter: The identities of the two new members of the 501st will be revealed.

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with what's been announced about the Strike Witches movie, here's what's known so far:

-It will be a new story, not simply a retelling of an old story.

-It will feature at least one witch from the expanded world... though exactly who, we can't say yet.

-A new, more powerful enemy who will utterly embarrass the witches will appear.

Although this isn't known to be connected to the movie, Eila and Sanya are known to have since been transferred to Petersburg for a new operation. This may hint that the movie is also going to cover the Eastern front.

**Canonicity**** Notes****:**

Fritz: Non-canon (probably obvious, but just to be sure). As a side note, the radio technology here is a bit more advanced than the real-world during WWII, but given the ear-radios that witches use, I think we can extrapolate that they're a bit ahead in this area.

X-38 "Flying Fortress": No canon basis. The X-38 label is taken from the X-number designation given in canon to Neuroi models, and I based this one off of the XB-38 Flying Fortress, an experimental variation of the B-17 Flying Fortress.

Schwartzekatze-2: Canon witch, who canonically has experience shooting down Neuroi bombers with a Jet Striker (though the specific Neuroi model isn't specified).

Waltraud Nowotny: Canon witch, though all we know about her in canon is that she is in the 503rd. That she leads it, and is involved with the testing of the Me 262, is based on real-world history.

Adolfine Galland: Canon witch. The highest-ranking witch, authorized to form witch squadrons and wings as necessary to liberate Karlsland. She's also the only witch to wear pants, although the explanation behind it is non-canon. (The reason given that most witches don't wear pants, however, has a canon basis.) Her nickname for Minna is non-canon. Her personality... well, I tried to match what's known about her as best as I can, but you'll have to be the judge of that.

Gundula Rall: Canon witch. Official leader of the 502nd, and the third-highest-scoring ace in the Allied Forces (After Trude and Erica). She doesn't like to do much actual leading, though.

Hanna Rudel: Canon witch. She was last seen in the Suomus Misfits novels, which took place in 1939, so she's likely past her prime by now.

Federica Doglio: Canon witch, the official commander of the 504th JFW. Her magical power is declining, so she lets Takei take command in the field.


	5. The Strength of the 501st

**Author's Note:** Welcome all! I was actually planning to write more for this chapter, but it was getting so long that I only put in one of the major scenes I was planning here (and introducing only one of the future members of the 501st). Hope you enjoy this!

A special thanks goes out to Crosswood, my unofficial history advisor for this chapter (and probably future ones as well).

Also, since this chapter is otherwise light on fluff, here's a little bonus for you, which I originally wrote for Crossy.

**Bonus Fluff #1:**

Eila gaped, trying to process Sanya's statement. They were already girlfriends? How did that happen? "Wh... wh... what do you mean? Why? How? When?" Sanya caught Eila's arm in her hand, stopping the other girl before she could either get up from the bed and pace around the room, or perhaps run away. Eila wasn't sure exactly what she would have tried to do, but it wasn't an option now in any case.

Sanya held Eila's gaze, the soft affection in her eyes helping Eila calm down a little. "It's hard to pinpoint an exact moment... It feels like you've confessed to me so many times already. But perhaps..." Sanya's eyes looked down for a moment, but they quickly met Eila's gaze again, filled with resolve. "Perhaps you just needed to hear me say it. I love you too, Eila."

**Aviation Notes:**

_Yo-yo_ - A maneuver in which a plane pulls up sharply to lose speed, then dives back down to its initial altitude. This is the simplest way of going from in front of a bandit to behind them, although it can be risky if they anticipate it or other enemies are in the area. The name comes from the Chinese pilot Yo-Yo, not from the toy.

X-X-X

**Title:** Wartorn

**Chapter Rating:** T

**Chapter 5:** The Strength of the 501st

X-X-X

**Trieste, Venezia**

_**Ronchi dei Legionari**_** Airfield**

**Adolfine Galland's Office**

Minna glared at Galland for a long minute, trying to keep her eye from twitching. "The nickname isn't the issue here. Trying to keep three wings under control without suffering an aneurysm is the issue."

"Well it's not as if I'm getting rid of the commanders of the other wings to put you in charge of them all," Galland said, cracking a bit of a smile. "You'll still have Rall to manage the 502nd for you. As for the 507th... Anabuki's had to retire, but we'll figure something out. Elma Leivonen is the acting commander for now, but we're having a bit of trouble convincing her to take the post permanently. There are a few other options, but one of them would take even more convincing than Leivonen, and the other..." Galland sat down in her chair as she trailed off. "Well, I'm sure you know how slow Fuso is with promotions, and perhaps it's best if she keeps a low profile."

Minna narrowed her gaze. "Don't try to distract me, though I'm sure I'll need to press you for details on that later. You're giving me more to worry about, however you slice this. Without Sakamoto to help me out, I'm going to have my work cut out just keeping the 501st in line. Barkhorn can help, of course, but beyond her I've got no one else who I'd trust in a command position."

Galland lost eye contact with Minna for a moment, and Minna could picture the Air Commodore mentally going down the roster of the 501st until she got to the highest-ranking member after Minna and Trude: Charlotte Yeager. "Alright, you have a point," she said, meeting Minna's gaze again. "If it's command you need, though, I have a half-dozen retired witches who can't fly, but can at least help you keep things in order. We can figure something out if you need it. What's more of an issue..."

"Sakamoto," Minna said, still refusing to let Galland distract her, particularly now that a golden opportunity had been lain before her. "If I don't need someone who can fly, then she's the perfect choice."

Galland's eyes narrowed, and she let out a bit of a sigh. "Almost anyone but her, I'm afraid. If her magic eye still works - which I'm assuming is the case, seeing as she's still wearing her eyepatch - then she's too valuable. I'd like to snare her myself, to help develop a catalog of Neuroi types and the locations of their cores, but I'm sure someone with more authority already has their eye on her."

Minna sighed, though she tried not to show too much disappointment. Galland was right. Mio had already received a telegram from one of Dr. Miyafuji's colleagues asking for assistance, and it was probably only the first such offer she'd get. Witches with a special ability like Mio's were far too rare and valuable for Allied Command to let their abilities go to waste. Mio might be able to make some use of her eye to help out if she went with Minna, but it would hardly be the best use of it. "Haa... fine... What was that other thing you wanted to talk about?"

For once, Galland seemed to pause before she got back to business. Had Minna let too much disappointment show on her face? Thankfully, Galland didn't comment on it. "Right. Anyway, you're going to need to make a decision on what witches you'll get to fill out your roster. Normally you'd get more time, but there are more than a couple operations starting up right now, aiming to capitalize on our momentum, and we'll have to get the transfer orders out soon or else you'll risk missing out on your picks."

"That's really not something we should be rushing," Minna said, trying not to focus on the fact that Mio was one of the two witches she had to think about replacing. She had to fill a couple spots in the roster; that was it. "And I really prefer to see a witch in action, or at least have someone I trust do so, before I recruit her. Is there any chance that I'll have long enough to scout out at least a couple of witches before I make a decision?"

"If you have to," Galland said. "But I'd still prefer if you can at least narrow things down for me today." She pushed her chair back from her desk and began to search through one of her drawers. "I wasn't expecting you today, or I'd have this file ready for you, but let me see if I can pull out a few recommendations..."

X-X-X

**Batavia Airspace**

**Limburg**

"Plan? What are you going to do?" Trude asked. Getting Erica to elaborate was probably hopeless, but she had to at least make sure it wouldn't interfere with her own plan.

"We need to make this thing descend, right? Well, I've got just the thing. Cover me after we take out the engine," Erica said.

Trude didn't have a chance to question Erica further, as the Neuroi was almost in range. With the Neuroi in sight, she was finally able to appreciate just how big this one was. It had to be at least 50 meters across, probably more. It was going to be tough to take down, but she had to try. She leveled her guns at the Neuroi, adjusting her trajectory so she would fly just over its left wing. As soon as she could make out the bulge of the engine, she began to fire. The Neuroi wasn't making any effort to evade, so it was an easy target, at least for this pass. It hadn't even begun to shoot back at Trude yet, which meant the only difficulty was keeping her trajectory stable in the Neuroi's wake.

Trude lost a bit of speed as she passed the Neuroi's wing, but she and Erica had done a fair bit of damage to the engine as well. It wasn't enough to cause the engine to cut out, though, and they'd gotten the attention of the Neuroi now. Trude swerved to avoid the Neuroi's first attack, then pulled up into a yo-yo to fall back behind the Neuroi again. She was far above her combat ceiling right now though, so her maneuvers were rapidly depleting her speed. She would be able to make one more pass at a decent relative speed, and she would have to make the most it, as after this she'd be much more vulnerable to counterattacks.

She quickly glanced around to find Erica, but couldn't spot her. "I'm coming in again, Hartmann. Do I have your support?"

"I'm on it! Finish the job, Trude!" Just as she spoke, Erica dove in at the Neuroi from almost straight above it, weaving out of the path of its attacks as she fired at the engine. Trude didn't bother to ask how Erica had managed to attain that height - there would be time later - she simply leveled her guns at the engine and followed up on Erica's assault.

Despite their combined efforts, Trude still couldn't see any sign that the engine had given out. Fritz had been right; this thing was certainly heavily armored. She had to take a risk if they were ever going to force this Neuroi to descend before it reached Maastricht. The armor on top of the engine had to have been weakened by now, so it was time to strike a killing blow. Trude quickly holstered her left gun and reversed her grip on the other rifle. As she zeroed in on the Neuroi, she gripped her rifle with both hands and channeled magic into it to reinforce the butt.

It couldn't compare to Sakamoto's sword, but her rifle got the job done. It broke through what remained of the engine's armor and hit something inside. Trude had no idea how Neuroi engines worked, but this seemed to do the job. The Neuroi's body shook as it adjusted its flight, and Trude was quick to pull away from a fierce counterattack.

Trude had no idea how long the engine would be disabled before the Neuroi could regenerate it. Did more complex parts of the Neuroi take longer to regenerate? She'd never had to worry about that before, but it would certainly be nice to know now. Not that she had the time to worry about it.

"I'm going for the other wing! Cover me, Trude!" Erica called out. Hoping that she had something good in mind, Trude pulled up and maneuvered toward the Neuroi's right wing. She had to avoid beams shooting out from both of the Neuroi's wings and sides as she moved, but she found Erica in a relatively safe spot, just in front of the Neuroi's wing. "Time to see if this works," Erica said. "Shield me!"

Trude could feel the buzz of magic in the air early enough to pull away safely. Almost as soon as she was clear, a whirlwind began to pick up around Erica. It wasn't immediately clear what Erica was trying to do, but as Trude turned to shield Erica from the Neuroi's attacks, she figured out what her wingman was up to. As she stared at the Neuroi's nearest weapon emplacement, Trude could see it begin to dip lower, and she had to keep adjusting her position to keep Erica safe.

Erica was definitely going to deserve a commendation for this strategy - or at least a couple days of Trude not nagging her to clean her room. While she'd whipped the air around her up into a whirlwind, it was traveling in any direction except straight over the Neuroi's wing. With no smooth airflow, it could barely get any lift, and it was already beginning to lose altitude. This close to its ceiling, and with one engine already down, the Neuroi was falling fast.

"Need a... need sleep..." Erica muttered after holding her attack for a solid minute. Using her attack for this long had to have been putting quite the strain on her body.

"Hartmann! Cut the attack and pull away! You've done enough," Trude ordered. A bit slowly, Erica obeyed the order, pulling off to the side of the Neuroi as the winds around her died. She would need some time to regain her focus, if she even had enough magic left to continue to fight. "Get to a safe distance and glide for a bit. I'll take care of things here until you're ready."

"Right..." Erica said, pulling farther away from Trude and the Neuroi. Trude was able to hear Erica take a few deep breaths over the radio. "Should be... fine in a minute or two. Just a bit dizzy."

Trude pulled away from Erica, aiming for the Neuroi's left wing again. It didn't seem as angry over losing altitude as it had about losing its engine, though judging a Neuroi's emotional state was likely a waste of time. It probably didn't know - or didn't care - that it would be vulnerable to the waiting FlaK now. But until they got there, the best thing Trude could do was to make sure it didn't regenerate its engine.

It was hard to get in a solid attack against the engine again, now that the Neuroi was focusing all of its attacks on her, but Trude was at least able to strike it with the barrel of her gun a couple more times before she finally heard a new voice over the radio. The voice spoke Britannian, not the Karlsländish she'd been expecting, but now wasn't the time to think about what that meant. "Flight Lieutenant Barkhorn, this is Lieutenant Colonel Haszard in Maastricht. Do you read?"

"I read, what's the news?" Trude snapped, trying not to lose focus on the Neuroi while she spoke.

"The Neuroi should be in range of the outer batteries soon. Assault will begin in one minute. My plan is to bombard it for a couple minutes to weaken its armor, then alternate 15 second barrages with 15 second breaks for you to go for the core. If we keep it regenerating, it won't be able to spare energy to attack you. You should have a few minutes before it pulls out of range of our guns."

"Acknowledged," Trude said. "Hartmann, did you get that?"

"I got it," Erica said. She seemed to have gotten her breath back now. "Ready to shield."

"Hartmann, meet me above the Neuroi after the barrage. We'll go for the core," Trude said, right before a sense of danger in the air made her instinctively raise her shield. She caught the initial blast from the Neuroi and slid out of the path of its beams. Over the next minute, she tried to avoid as many attacks as possible to save her energy, though she still did have to shield a few more times.

"Incoming!" came Haszard's voice over the radio, and Trude quickly prepared her shield. The Neuroi rumbled beneath her as it was struck by the assault, and Trude's shield caught any shrapnel that happened to miss it. With a target this big, the Neuroi was easy to hit, and the FlaK seemed to be equipped with a proximity fuse, making things even easier.

Trude had heard that Britannia had developed a reliable proximity fuse, but this was the first time she'd seen it in action. It certainly did seem to be working better than the timed fuse Karsländer FlaK used, causing the Neuroi to take almost all of the shots fired. There were still a few shells that passed the Neuroi without exploding, or which exploded off to the side of the Neuroi, so Trude had to be careful not to let her guard down.

Trude moved over to hide above the Neuroi, where she was safe from most of the shrapnel flying through the air. The Neuroi attacked her a few times half-heartedly, but it was trivial to dodge the attacks while it was spending most of its energy on regenerating. She couldn't count on the FlaK barrage to do much deep damage to the Neuroi, but it at least provided a distraction, and hopefully an opening, for her.

"Hartmann, how are you doing?" Trude said as she waited for the initial barrage to end.

"Should be good to attack, as long as I don't have to use my shields against the Neuroi's beams too much," Erica said.

"Alright. We'll search for the core once the barrage dies down. It should be somewhere near the head," Trude said. She shifted into position above the Neuroi's head, shielding herself against the shrapnel that made its way past the Neuroi while she waited for her chance to strike.

As soon as she felt the barrage softening, Trude dove toward the Neuroi and began to fire at it. She spread her fire around, hoping to gain a glimpse of the core, perhaps just a hint of red making its way through the Neuroi's armor. There was a lot of space to cover, though, and her shots weren't revealing much of it. As her mental count reached 15 seconds, and she'd still seen no trace of the core, Trude pulled up and raised her shield again.

"Hartmann, did you find the core?" Trude called out over the sound of shells exploding around them.

"Negative. It might be too deep, or maybe we just didn't get lucky."

"Damn it..." Trude muttered. She took a moment to check her ammo belts while the barrage was ongoing. She was beginning to get low, and it was likely that Hartmann was in the same situation. If they weren't able to find the core within the next opening or two, they'd be out of luck. They couldn't take their chances here. "Hartmann, we're going for the engines. Left wing, take out the other engine there first."

"Copy."

Trude pulled up into another yo-yo, letting herself fall back again so she could strike at the engine as soon as her opportunity arose. She could see Erica falling into position beside her this time, and the pair of witches began their dives almost simultaneously. Since they were only getting this one pass, Trude switched from shooting to preparing to strike with the butt of her rifle before she even reached the engine. Erica held to her course longer, firing until the last possible moment and barely avoiding crashing into the Neuroi.

When Trude struck at the Neuroi this time, she didn't have quite as much luck as before. She was able to dig in past the outer layer of armor, but she didn't manage to hit anything beyond that. Her swing had been a bit lethargic this time; the constant shielding must have been causing her magical energy to begin to run out. Erica seemed to be doing a bit better, despite her earlier exhaustion, so perhaps it was Trude's attacks with the butt of her rifle that were straining her. Sakamoto never seemed to get worn out this easily when she was at her prime, so perhaps there was some difference with how swords held magical energy that made them more efficient. The cutting edge would certainly be a plus if Trude was going to do this more often.

That was a thought for later, though. For now, she just had her rifles to work with. She would have to at least knock out this engine if she wanted any hope of this Neuroi crashing before it could do too much damage, but her chances of even being able to do that were running out.

She had to try, though. If she and Erica could only knock out this engine, the Neuroi would still probably be able to get to Maastricht, but the city's defenders - and their backup, whenever she managed to arrive - would at least have a fighting chance against it. Or she could go for the core again, and try to dig deep in a couple of likely locations. If she got lucky, she could prevent any deaths today, but if she didn't, this Neuroi would be able to cause a lot more damage.

As the FlaK picked up again, Trude drifted back over the Neuroi. She tried to let down her shields for a few seconds to save energy, but she quickly reconsidered this when the Neuroi shot a quick blast at her. That certainly wasn't good. First of all, it forced Trude to keep shielding, meaning she couldn't recover as much energy, but it also meant that the Neuroi was able to tell when she was shielding, even when nothing was hitting her. Did the Neuroi have some way to sense her use of magic now? That could certainly be bad news for night witches, if there was any range to this ability. She would have to make sure she lived through this to pass the message along.

When she had her opening to attack, Trude made a snap decision on what to attack. She quickly pulled back and began to fire both of her rifles at the engine. She couldn't spare the energy to reinforce the butt of her rifle for another attack, but she could still do some good at exposing the insides of the engine. A sudden flurry of beams from the Neuroi forced Trude to cut off her attack early this time, though Hartmann was able to last a bit longer while she searched for the core. The Neuroi had either adapted to the assault, or it was focusing more effort on attacking while it let the damage pile up. Perhaps at least that meant the FlaK would be able to destroy a few of its bombs before they were dropped, but it still made it harder to actually down the Neuroi before it got into range of Maastricht.

"Haszard to Barkhorn. This looks like it'll be our last barrage. The Neuroi's getting out of range of us. Make it count."

Cursing under her breath, Trude pulled back into her safe spot above the Neuroi. She had to make a decision. There was just too much she didn't know, though. How much defense was left at Maastricht? Just how far away was their backup? She might at least be able to get an answer to that last question while she waited out this barrage, she realized. "Barkhorn to Schwartzekatze. Do you read me? How far away are you?" Trude said, not sure if she would even get a response, now that Fritz wasn't helping to connect them.

"Schwartzekatze-2 to Barkhorn. I'm in visible range now. I'm running low on power, though. I probably only have a couple good passes in me."

It was something, at least. "Schwartzekatze, hit the engines on the right wing when you get here. Hartmann, let's take out the left engine."

"Copy," Erica said.

"I read as well," Schwartzekatze said, just as the FlaK began to taper off and Trude pulled back to the engine again. "And it's Schwartzekatze-2. 'Schwartzekatze' is Squadron Leader Nowotny, not me."

Trude tuned out the correction as she began her attack. Her subconscious tried to alert her that there was something very familiar about that voice, but she shut it up for the time being. She had to focus on her attack for now. She still couldn't spare the energy to strike the engine with her rifle again, so she focused on shooting through the holes her previous attacks had opened up. Although Trude's ammo ran out before she'd finished the job, a follow-up by Erica at point-blank range finally did the job.

Trude pulled away as the Neuroi lurched and adjusted its course. "Both left engines are out. It's all yours, Helma." It wasn't until after she'd spoken that Trude realized her subconscious had already identified that voice for her. There would be time to catch up later, though. There would also be time later to reprimand Erica for groaning over the radio.

"I read. Leave it to me," Helma replied, waiting until after Erica was finished groaning. "Get clear of the right wing."

Trude pulled up, remaining above the Neuroi. She wouldn't be much help attacking it, but at least she would provide another target once the Neuroi's weapons started firing again. She kept her eyes open for the telltale red glow that signaled that the Neuroi was preparing to attack, but her attention was instead captured by a series of four explosions blanketing the Neuroi's wing. She was barely able to make out Helma's figure as she passed the Neuroi, though Erica's follow-up attack was easier to spot.

"I'm out of ammo," Erica said as she pulled away from the Neuroi, "but I think the inner-right engine is out."

"Copy," Helma said, "but it's still a threat. We're too close to Maastricht now. Even if we take out the last engine, it could crash within city limits."

After a few moments of searching the sky, Trude was able to catch sight of Helma's figure making a wide turn to come back for another pass. "Can you get the core, Helma?" Trude said. "Erica and I tried, but we couldn't find it. If you know where it is, though, you might have a chance."

"Affirmative. I can't afford to waste time searching for it, though. You're going to have to be ready to catch me."

"'Catch'...? Helma, what are you doing?" Trude demanded, even as she began to descend toward the Neuroi. Helma hadn't seemed like the crazy type when they'd met before, but that wasn't a sentence she wanted to hear from any witch.

"Ramming it. Trust me," Helma said. Trude caught sight of Helma raising her shield in front of her and cloaking her body in a white glow as she flew toward the Neuroi. There wasn't enough time to tell her to pull up, so Trude could only watch as Helma plowed into the Neuroi.

Helma's attack might have been crazy, but it hit home. The Neuroi's body shattered within seconds after Helma struck it. Trude wasn't paying attention to it, though. Rather, she was searching through the debris for sight of Helma.

"I've got her," Erica called out. As the Neuroi's debris faded from sight, Trude was able to make out the sight of Erica diving down to catch Helma's falling figure. Holding her breath as she hoped that Helma was somehow still alive, Trude dove down to meet Erica.

To Trude's relief, Helma had miraculously survived without a scratch, though she did seem to be quite dazed. "Warrant Officer Lennartz! What the hell were you thinking?"

Helma turned her head, blinking her eyes at Trude. It took her a moment to focus. "I was thinking that you would be the one to catch me..." she said. With a pained groan, Helma's eyes fell closed. "At least Hartmann is wearing her pants this time..."

X-X-X

**Trieste, Venezia**

_**Ronchi dei Legionari**_** Airfield**

**Adolfine Galland's Office**

_Name: Helma Lennartz_

_Rank: Warrant Officer_

_Affiliation: Kommando Nowotny_

_Striker Unit: Messerschmidt Me 262 Schwalbe_

_Armament: MK 108 cannon, 4 x R4M "Orkan" rockets_

_Confirmed Kills: 12_

_Special Ability: "Iron Head" - Heavily resistant to inertial shocks. Capable of handling higher g-forces than most witches, and able to survive high-speed crashes if she braces herself. Has been working on expanding her power to reinforce her striker unit, with mixed success so far._

_Notes: Helma was the youngest member selected for the etherjet striker evaluation squad, at my recommendation. I wanted to see if someone who hadn't built up too much familiarity with reciprocating engine strikers would perform better with jet strikers, and Helma was the most promising enlistee at the time. Helma didn't disappoint. She kept up with the kill counts of even the experienced aces in EKdo 131 and Kommondo Nowotny, and even holds the best record of victories over large-type Neuroi bombers. She's risen through the ranks rapidly, to the point that we can't promote her any further without giving her a commission._

_Evaluation: Highly recommended._

"You'll probably want to meet her first, though," Galland said as she passed the file to Minna. "Helma has an... interesting personality. Most of her squadmates I've talked to see her as more cute than annoying, but I'm sure she must rub at least one or two people the wrong way."

"We've met, actually," Minna said as she read through Helma's file. There would certainly be some tension with Erica, but it would probably be worth the headaches saved by the fact that Helma actually cared about following regulations. She would just have to make sure that any complaints Helma might have would be filtered through Trude first. "Certainly a promising choice, though I would like to see what other options there are before making any commitments," Minna said as she placed Helma's file on the desk.

X-X-X

**Trieste, Venezia**

_**Ronchi dei Legionari**_** Airfield**

**Hangar Two**

_**Destinatario**__**:**__ Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke_

_**Indirizzo:**__ 501__st__ JFW Southern Romagnan Base_

_**Città, Provincia, Regione:**__ Pomezia, Roma, Lazio_

_**Numero del Destinatario:**__ 8135971_

_**Mittente:**__ MI2_

_Tell Sakamoto if her eye still works contact Roberta FULL STOP_

"I'm sorry, Squadron Leader, I can't help you with that either," the telegraph operator said with an apologetic smile. "MI is Britannian military intelligence, and all their numbers are classified. It's rare to even get a telegram that identifies them as the source. Usually it's just the name of the sender or the sending station."

"I see..." Mio said. She stared at the telegraph as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. Roberta didn't have an address on file that they could find, and the only thing Mio knew about her activities after the death of Dr. Miyafuji was that she'd moved on to work on the Land Striker for a while. After that, though, Mio hadn't heard anything about her.

Mio's magic eye tried to zoom in of its own accord as she got lost in thought, so Mio blinked a couple of times to refocus on the room around her. There was no point in wasting its power now; this close to the front lines, she could very well find a use for it later. It did remind her, though, of how much she wanted to use it to help out somehow, so she couldn't give up easily on this possibility.

"Do you know anyone else who might be able to put you in contact with this Roberta?"

"Maybe," Mio said. She ran down her mental list of the other researchers she'd gotten to know while working with Dr. Miyafuji. Dr. Kurchatov would have been a good option, if only she knew where he was right now. He'd been in Fuso helping design the new Striker Units for Mio and Yoshika up until a few months ago, but now that those projects were finished, there was no way to know where he would have been called off to.

As Mio thought about it, there was really only one person on the team who was likely to be in the same place after all this time. Unfortunately, the same habits that made him likely to stay in the same place also made him a bit difficult to talk to. It was the price paid for genius, though, and if it weren't for his solution to layering multiple glyphs into a Striker Unit without interference, Dr. Miyafuji's new model of Striker would never have been possible.

"See if you have a number for Bletchley Park, in Britannia," Mio said. "I believe they have a telegraph on site. Tell them, 'Sakamoto Mio asks A. Turing if he knows location of R. Oppenheimer.'"

X-X-X

**Author's Note:** If the name drops aren't ringing a bell with you, Google is your friend. But in any case, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I've already gotten 1,000 words or so of the next chapter written, but I do have another fic I promised to a friend that I need to write first. Hopefully it won't be too long this time before I update.

**Edit:** Thanks to OZ7UP for the correction on my Italian here!

**Canonicity Notes:**

Elma Leivonen: Canon character. She was the original leader of the Suomus Misfits squadron, before she recognized her own incompetence and passed the role to Anabuki Tomoko.

Promotions in Fuso: It was discussed how slow they are, compared to other nations, in one of the drama CDs, thus explaining why Mio has a longer service record than Minna but a lower rank.

Haszard, Kurchatov, Turing, Oppenheimer: All non-canon.

Callsigns: The identification of Nowotny as "Schwartzekatze" is non-canon, though likely. Helma's callsign is canon.

Helma Lennartz: Canon character, who appeared in the Season 1.5 manga. Most of the information about her here is canon, except for the change in her affiliation, her specific number of kills, and her special ability.

Location of the 501st's base: Non-canon. This is just a guess based on the short drive to Rome and the location of the real-world Pratica De Mare air base.

**Bonus Fluff #2:**

Sanya's eyes blinked open slowly. Something was off. Eila was missing from their bed. Once her vision cleared, it wasn't hard to find Eila, as she'd turned on a soft light at the desk. "Eila...?" Sanya said. "What are you doing?"

"Uh!" Eila turned around quickly, nearly falling out of her chair in the process. She managed to stabilize herself before she could fall, but not before she'd managed to cause Sanya to break out into laughter. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, then let out a sigh. "Sorry, I couldn't sleep. I kept feeling like I had to be dreaming, so... Well, my Tarot's always more accurate when I'm dreaming, so I decided to try to ask it if I was dreaming. ...Does that make sense?"

Sanya rubbed a bit of her sleep out of her eyes. She sat up in bed and moved closer to Eila. Once she was in range, she leaned forward and gave Eila's forearm a pinch. At Eila's yelp, Sanya crawled back toward the pillow. Just before she dropped down to let her face hit the pillow, she said, "Now come back to bed."


End file.
